Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Relative clauses introduced by cuyoare replaced in informal speech by full

clauses introduced by que + possessive adjective:

Este es el chico que su padre es un ministro.

Literally: ‘This is the boy that his father is a minister.’

Instead of:

Este es el chico cuyo padre es un ministro.

This is the boy whose father is a minister.

Translating ‘what’ in a relative clause

See 3.4.4.

Alternatives to the basic system

El queand el cual

The el queand el cualseries of pronouns are virtually identical in terms of

their grammatical functions. They differ however in terms of their

frequency of use, although there is also a regional bias. In the Iberian

Peninsula el cualis notably less common in speech than el que, although

in many parts of Latin America the reverse situation is true. Therefore

depending on the formality of the context or on the region in which one

finds oneself, the el cualseries can replace the el que series in all the uses

exemplified in 25.4.2.1(b), 25.4.2.2, 25.4.3.1(b) and 25.4.3.2:

¿Cómo se llama el hombre con el cual hemos hablado esta

mañana?

What is the name of the man we spoke to/with this morning?

Hubo un intento de calmar a los manifestantes, muchos de

los cuales desconfiaban de la policía.

An attempt was made to pacify the protesters, many of whom

distrusted the police.

Hojeé las páginas del libro, entre las cuales encontré una

postal escrita por ella.

I flicked through the pages of the book, among which I found a

postcard written by her.

25.5.1

25.5

25.4.8

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

Alternatives

to the basic

system

263