| relative | use | example |
|---|---|---|
| que | the most common: people and things, subject or object | El hombre que vive aquí. El libro que leo. — The man who lives here. The book I'm reading. |
| prep. + el que, la que, los que, las que (or el cual…) | after a preposition; the article agrees | La casa en la que vivo. — The house I live in. El amigo con el que viajé. — The friend I travelled with. |
| quien, quienes | people only: after a preposition, between commas, or “whoever” | La chica con quien hablé. — The girl I talked to. Quien busca, encuentra. — Whoever looks, finds. |
| lo que, lo cual | what / which; refers to a whole idea | Lo que quiero es dormir. — What I want is to sleep. Llegó tarde, lo que me molestó. — He arrived late, which annoyed me. |
| cuyo, cuya, cuyos, cuyas | whose; agrees with the thing owned, no article after it | La autora cuyos libros leo. — The author whose books I read. |
| donde | where (place) | La ciudad donde nací. — The town where I was born. |
The preposition always comes before the relative, never at the end of the sentence as in English (“the house I live in”). After a time noun: El día (en) que te conocí. — The day I met you.
A verb's own preposition moves in front: El libro del que te hablé. — The book I told you about (hablar de).
Relatives have no accent; question words do (qué, quién, dónde).
Translate the words from your reading, review them as flashcards and practise with gap-fill sentences.
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