Introduction
This
post is about the practical use of relative pronouns in
general and more specifically the relative pronoun “cual”.
SCENARIO
Imagine
you are with a relative, a friend or a colleague. You take a phone
call and announce it is for the other person. The other person wants
to know who is calling and says to you something like: "tell
me, who is calling me?".
In
Spanish, he/ she could choose to be less formal and say to you:
Dime,
¿quién me llama?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:
Dígame,
¿quién me llama?
OUR
TIP
The
question is an invitation for you to announce who is calling. In a
situation like this, you should
only need
to consider different levels of formality for you reply if your
answer includes a reference to the person asking the question. If
that is not the case, your only concern should be about saying who is
calling.
Here are some
examples of how you could reply:
Te
llama aquel chico el
cual* nos
atendió en el bar
(that boy who served us in the bar is calling you);
Te
llama la chica a la
cual* llamamos
por teléfono ayer
(the girl we phoned yesterday is calling you);
Te
llama el chico al
cual* pagamos
la cuenta en el restaurante
(the boy we paid the bill in the restaurant to is calling you);
Te
llama la chica de la
cual* te
había hablado
(the girl I had talked to you about is calling you);
Te
llama el chico con el
cual* estuvimos
hablando ayer
(the boy we were talking to yesterday is calling you);
Te
llama la chica para la
cual* compramos
el regalo
(the girl for whom we bought the present is is calling you);
Now you should
practise replying to someone who says to you:
Dime,
¿quién me llama?
*Please
see grammar topic below, relative pronouns and adjectives-
cual
*Grammar-Relative
Pronouns & Adjectives
Spanish
relative pronouns roughly correspond to the English “who” or
which”, whilst relative adjectives roughly correspond to the
English “whose”. The Spanish relative pronouns and adjectives
applicable to each combination of gender (masculine/ feminine/
neuter) and number (singular/ plural) are shown in the table below.
|
Pronouns
|
Adjectives
|
| Masculine/ Singular |
(el)
que
(el)
cual
quien
|
cuyo
|
| Feminine/ Singular |
(la)
que
(la)
cual
quien
|
cuya
|
| Neuter |
(lo)
que
(lo)
cual
|
|
| Masculine/ Plural |
(los)
que
(los)
cuales
quienes
|
cuyos
|
| Feminine/ Plural |
(las)
que
(las)
cuales
quienes
|
cuyas
|
Table 1 – Relative Pronouns and
Adjectives
The
following are some notes and examples of the use of relative pronouns
and adjectives in Spanish.
1.
Que
The
relative pronoun “que”
is perhaps the most commonly used of them all. This relative pronoun
never changes regardless of the gender (masculine/ feminine) or the
number (singular/ plural) of the noun it replaces. This pronoun may
be used to replace nouns referring to people or things.
The
relative pronoun “que”
may be used in a variety of situations. Considering the cases when
the “que”
is the subject, the direct object or neither subject nor direct
object of a sentence may help better understand how this pronoun is
used.
Pedro
fue
el que te
llamó, ¿verdad? (it
was Pedro who called you, wasn't it?);
Maria
fue la que te
llamó, ¿verdad? (it
was Maria who called you, wasn't it?);
¿Conoces
a la persona que te
llamó? (do
you know the person who called you?);
Esos
perros son los que
ladraban (those
are the dogs which were barking);
Esas
flores son las que
crecen en el jardín (those
are the flowers which grow in the garden);
¿Conoces
a las personas que te
llamaron? (do
you know the people who called you?);
*NB
The relative pronoun (who, which, etc.) is often omitted in English.
That is the case for example in “it was Pedro you called, wasn't
it?”. There are several other examples above. However, the relative
pronoun “que” should never be omitted in Spanish.
2.
Quien
The
relative pronoun “quien”
is used in a very similar way to “que”.
The main differences between these two pronouns are:
The relative
pronoun “quien” may be used to replace nouns referring
to people only (not things);
The
relative pronoun “quien”
has a plural form, “quienes”,
which is used when replacing plural nouns.
Bearing
in mind the above differences, the relative pronoun “quien”
may also be used in a variety of situations.
Considering
the cases when the “quien”
is the subject, the direct object or neither subject nor direct
object of a sentence may help better understand how this pronoun is
used.
Pedro
fue
quién te
llamó, ¿verdad? (it
was Pedro who called you, wasn't it?);
Maria
fue quién te
llamó, ¿verdad? (it
was Maria who called you, wasn't it?);
Pedro
y Antonio fueron quiénes
os llamaron, ¿verdad? (it
was Pedro and Antonio who called you, wasn't it?);
Pedro
y María fueron quiénes
os llamaron, ¿verdad? (it
was Pedro and Maria who called you, wasn't it?);
Lucía
y Ana fueron quiénes
os llamaron, ¿verdad? (it
was Lucia and Ana who called you, wasn't it?);
*NB
Again, the relative pronoun (who, which, etc.) is often omitted in
English. That is the case for example in “it was Pedro you called,
wasn't it?”. There are several other examples above. However, the
relative pronoun “quien” should never be omitted in
Spanish.
3.
Cual
The
relative pronoun “cual”
is used in a very similar to “que”.
The main difference between these two pronouns is:
Bearing
in mind the above differences, the relative pronoun “cual”
may also be used in a variety of situations.
Considering
the cases when the “cual”
is the subject, the direct object or neither subject nor direct
object of a sentence may help better understand how this pronoun is
used.
Este
es Pedro
el cual os
llamó ayer (this
is Pedro who called you yesterday);
Esta
es María la cual os
llamó ayer (this
is Maria who called you yesterday);
Esos
perros, los cuales
ladraban ayer, hoy no lo hacen (those
dogs which were barking yesterday, are not doing it today);
Esas
flores, las cuales
ayer crecían en el jardín, hoy están ya mustias (those
flowers which yesterday were growing in the garden yesterday, are
now withered);
*NB
Again, the relative pronoun (who, which, etc.) is often omitted in
English. That is the case for example in “it was Pedro you called,
wasn't it?”. There are several other examples above. However, the
relative pronoun “cual” should never be omitted in
Spanish.
4.
Neuter Relative Pronouns
The
relative pronouns “que”
and “cual”
may be used to replace a concept or an action instead of a noun. When
used in this way, these pronouns are always preceded by the neuter
definite article “lo”.
Examples of the use of these relative pronouns are:
Descansar
es lo que me
gusta hacer los domingos
(resting
is what I like to do on Sundays);
Lo que
quiero
es que descanses (what
I want is that you rest);
Para
lo que gano
casi no vale la pena trabajar (for
what I earn it is hardly worthwhile working);
No
nos llamó Pedro lo
cual me
ha extrañado
(Pedro
didn't call us which has surprised me);
Nos
ha ayudado Pedro por
lo cual le
estamos agradecidos
(Pedro
helped us, for which we are thankful);
5.
Cuyo
“Cuyo”
is a relative adjective. As is the case with other adjectives, the
relative adjective“cuyo”
is is used to describe nouns*. Typical uses of “cuyo”
are as per the following examples:
Este
es mi amigo Pedro cuyo
hermano vive en Madrid (this
is my friend Pedro whose brother lives in Madrid);
Este
es mi amigo Pedro cuya
familia vive en Madrid (this
is my friend Pedro whose family lives in Madrid);
Este
es mi amigo Pedro cuyos
hermanos viven en Madrid (this
is my friend Pedro whose brothers live in Madrid);
Este
es mi amigo Pedro cuyas
hermanas viven en Madrid (this
is my friend Pedro whose sisters live in Madrid);
Este
es mi amigo Pedro cuyos
padres viven en Madrid (this
is my friend Pedro whose parents live in Madrid);
*NB
As shown in the examples above, “cuyo” is typically placed
between two nouns, agreeing always with the one which follows it.
Now
you should practise the use of the relative pronouns and
adjectives with some examples of your own.
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