Spanish relative pronouns, adverbs and adjectives
An inventory of Spanish relative words is given in Table 25.1:Table 25.1Spanish relativesPronouns que(invariable) that/who/which
quien, quienes who/whom
el que, la que, los que, who/whom/which
las que
el cual, la cual, los cuales, who/whom/which
las cuales
lo que, lo cual (neuter) what/which
Adverbs donde where
cuando when
Adjective cuyo, cuya, cuyos, cuyas whose
Adjective/ cuanto, cuanta, cuantos, as much/many
pronoun cuantasNote: The word como ‘how’ can also be used as a relative adverb. However it only
appears in one type of context, namely after manera‘manner’: No le gustaba la
manera como le hablaban a su esposa ‘He didn’t like the way in which they talked
to his wife’. In everyday speech, the phrase la manera comois usually replaced by
la manera en que.A basic system
Although relative clauses are not one of the more difficult areas of Spanish
grammar, they can seem so if an attempt is made to learn all of the alter-
native forms at once. Therefore, in the first instance it is advisable to learn
a basic system and to postpone until later any consideration of alternative
forms or patterns of regional variation. Such a system is presented below.
Possible alternatives (including el cualfor el que) are discussed in 25.5.
In what follows, it is assumed that English prepositions that are ‘stranded’
at the end of a relative clause (see 25.1.2) are relocated to the position
immediately before the relative pronoun prior to translation: e.g. ‘The man
that we spoke about’ > ‘The man aboutwhom we spoke’.25.4
(^1111) 25.3
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
A basic
system