Relative pronouns in Spanish (pronombre de relativo) are words like que (who, whom, that, which), which introduce relative clauses. A relative clause is a group of words that refers back to something previously mentioned in the sentence, a noun, or a pronoun, known as the antecedent.
Enrique compró un coche. (Enrique bought a car.)
El coche era mío. (The car was mine).
Enrique compró un coche que era mío. (Enrique bought a car that was mine).
In the third example below, “el coche” is the antecedent. Using relative pronouns in Spanish is important because it makes you sound more fluent.
Spanish relative pronouns «QUE» and «QUIEN»
The two most used relative pronouns are que, which can refer to people, places, or things, and quien, which can only refer to a person. Today, we are going to talk about these two; in a future post, we will discuss the others.
A couple of things before we continue: don’t mistake the relative pronouns for the interrogatives. They are spelled the same, but interrogatives always have an accent over the “e”: qué, quién.
¿Quién es Enrique? (Who is Enrique?)
Es el hombre a quien vendí mi coche. (He is the man to whom a sold my car.)
Another important thing is that relative pronouns are often optional in English, but their use is compulsory in Spanish.
QUE in English can be who, whom, which, and that
Que is the most common relative pronoun in Spanish, both in spoken and written form. It is invariable and can refer to people and things.
La única cosa que tienes que hacer. (The only thing that/which you have to do.)
Ramón, que es estudiante, es mi compañero de piso (Ramon, who is a student, is my flatmate.)
In the first sentence, que introduces a restrictive clause that restricts the scope of the antecedent. No comma or pause is used between the relative pronoun and the antecedent. In the second example, the clause is non-restrictive. It provides more information about the antecedent, so a comma is needed in writing and a pause in the speech. As part of a non-restrictive clause, que, in this example, can be replaced by quien or el cual (we will see «el cual» in the next post).
Que is often used with prepositions; in this case, it is advisable to use an article that matches the number and gender with the antecedent.
Vívía en una casa. (I lived in a house.)
La casa tenía tres plantas. (The house had three floors.)
La casa en la que vivía tenía tres plantas. (The house I live in had three floors.)
Note that the preposition must come before the relative pronoun, never at the end of the clause.
QUIEN and QUIENES in English can WHO, WHOM
Quien, and its plural form quienes, can only be referred to people, and its use does not differ much from that of el que/el cual, so they are going to be used after a noun, frequently after preposition + article or in a non-restrictive clause.
Elena, a quien admiro mucho, ganó el premio. (Elena, whom I admire very much, won the prize.)
Estas son mis compañeras con quienes practico español (These are my colleagues with whom I practice Spanish.)
In these two sentences, quien and quienes can be changed by que, but if we use que, we need to use the article: a la que admiro…, con las que practico…
When the relative pronoun is written immediately after the antecedent, quien or quienes cannot be used even when referring to people.
La mujer que vive en esa casa tiene cien años. (The woman who lives in that house is a hundred years old.)
Never “la mujer quien…”
Do you want to learn more about the Spanish relative sentences?
Let’s practice the Spanish relative pronouns QUE, QUIEN and QUIENES
Practice with this activity what you have learned about the relative pronouns in Spanish. Let us know in the comments below if you have any questions; our team will be happy to help you.