Relative Pronouns And Expressions In Spanish Chart Page 2
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4Relative Pronouns and Expressions in Spanish
2. Que may also be used after short separation from the antecedent, for example a comma or —
if it is not a person— a short (one-syllable) preposition, for example a, de, or en . However,
que is not used after such prepositions as sin, por, or para because those combinations would
be confused with the adverbial conjunctions sin que [without], porque (because) and para que
[so that].
¿Es ésta la escuela a que
Is that the school (which) you attended?
asististe?
Leí la novela de que
I read the novel you were talking about [about which you
hablabas.
were talking].
No es el banco en que
It's not the bank I deposited my money in [in which I
deposité mi dinero.
deposited my money].
Also note in the above examples that in Spanish you cannot leave prepositions dangling at the
end of a sentence as is so often done in English.
3. Quien and the plural form quienes (who) are used when the antecedent is a person and there
is some distance between the antecedent and the relative pronoun, usually a comma or a short
(one- or two-syllable) preposition:
¿Donde están las secretarias a
Where are the secretaries I spoke to this morning
quienes hablé esta mañana?
[to whom I spoke this morning]?
María es la mujer con quien
María is the woman I wanted to marry.
quería casarme.
Nadie parece conocer a
No one seems to know Miguel, whom Elena is in
Miguel, de quien está
love with [of whom Elena is enamoured].
enamorada Elena.
Note: Quien is not used when the relative pronoun comes immediately after the antecedent; que
is used instead (see section 1 above). [Also see Additional usage below.]
4. El que and the other forms —la que, los que, las que— agree in gender (singular/plural)
and number (masculine/feminine) with the antecedent. They are typically used when there is
some distance between the relative pronoun and the antecedent, for example after a comma or
a one-word preposition . This includes one syllable prepositions often used with que —
particularly en— and especially those which que might cause confusion if used with que, for
example sin, para, and por.
No es el banco en el que
It's not the bank I deposited my money in [in
deposité mi dinero.
which I deposited my money].
Ésas son las razones por las que
Those are the reasons why [because of which] I
no puedo acompañarte.
can't go with you.
Perdí los documentos sin los que
I lost the documents without which I can't
no puedo matricularme.
register.
Note: Also see Additional usage below.
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