Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Note also that constructions such as ‘it was John who.. .’ and ‘it was

yesterday that.. .’ are not included in the basic system. They are dealt with

in 25.6.

Translating ‘that’ (restrictive clauses only)

Unless used with a ‘stranded’ preposition, the English relative pronoun

‘that’ can normally be equated with quein Spanish:

La comida que te dan es asquerosa.

The food that they give you is horrible.

Me lo dijo el abogado que lleva el caso.

The lawyer that is handling the case said so.

Note: A phrase such as ‘the house that he lived in’, in which ‘that’ introduces a rela-

tive clause with a ‘stranded’ preposition, must be re-formed before translation as

‘the house in which he lived’. See 25.4.3.1(b) and 25.5.2.

Translating ‘who’ and ‘whom’

In restrictive relative clauses

(a) ‘Who’ should be translated by que (notquien or quienes):

No conozco a los inquilinos que viven abajo.

I don’t know the tenants who live downstairs.

Conozco a una chica que ha estado allí.

I know a girl who has been there.

However, if ‘who’ is the direct object in the relative clause (a substitute for

‘whom’), then while que is normally acceptable, it is in practice safer to

use an appropriate form from the el que series preceded by the personal a.

The gender and number of the el que pronoun agrees with that of the

antecedent:

Esta es la chica a la que detuvieron.

This is the girl who(m) they arrested.

(b) If ‘whom’ is preceded by a preposition, then quien/quienes or an appro-

priate form from the el queseries should be used. The gender and/or

number of the relative pronoun should agree with that of the antecedent:

25.4.2.1

25.4.2

25.4.1

1111

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111

25

Relative
clauses

258