La chica con quien iba a compartir el piso ha perdido su
trabajo.
The girl with whom I was going to share the flat has lost her job.
La persona de la que están hablando es un vecino mío.
The person they are talking about (i.e. ‘about whom’) is a neigh-
bour of mine.
‘Who’ and ‘whom’ in non-restrictive relative clauses
The rules given in 25.4.2.1 can be followed:
Ellos, que siempre han vivido en el centro, se han
comprado una casa en las afueras.
They, who have always lived in the centre, have bought a house on
the outskirts.
Pronto perdieron el respeto a Gutiérrez, al que calificaron
de inepto.
They soon lost their respect for Gutiérrez, whom they described as
inept.
However, it is also possible, particularly in more formal Spanish, to replace
quewith quienor quienes:
Al final pude localizar a Pedro, quien en aquella época
trabajaba en Sevilla.
In the end I managed to locate Pedro, who at that time was
working in Seville.
25.4.2.2
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
A basic
system
259
Translating ‘who’
Students should resist the temptation automatically to translate
English ‘who’ by Spanish quien. In practice quienis unlikely to be
appropriate unless it is preceded by a preposition. Sequences such as
×el niño quien vimos×or ×la chica quien quiere hablar×should
immediately trigger an alarm bell.
