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• Relative pronouns are used to link two phrases together and introduce subordinate clauses .

• In English, relative pronouns are words such as that, who and which.

• In English relative pronouns. can be left out of the sentence but they must always be used in Spanish.

Que can refer to people or things and means who, that or which. It can be left out in English but is always included in Spanish.

For example:

La chica que vive en la misma calle. - The girl who lives in the same street.

Las asignaturas que prefiero. - The subjects that I prefer.

La cosa que no me gusta. - The thing that I don’t like.

Practise what you've learned about relative pronouns in Spanish with this quiz.

Quien and quienes (plural) mean who and can only be used for people.

For example:

Mi hermano, quien es abogado, vive en Londres. - My brother, who is a lawyer, lives in London.

Mis profesores, quienes son muy estrictos, siempre gritan. - My teachers, who are very strict, always shout.

El que, la que, los que and las que refer to both people and things. They all mean ‘the one who’.

For example:

Mi profesor, el que enseña historia, es muy severo. - My teacher, the one who teaches history, is very strict.

Mis amigos, los que viven en la casa enorme, tienen mucho dinero. - My friends, the ones who live in the enormous house, have lots of money.

These phrases are not used very often in speech as it is more common to use que, but they are seen more often in written texts.

El cual, la cual, los cuales and las cuales mean exactly the same thing as el que, la que, los que and las que and work in exactly the same way. They are more likely to be seen in literary texts such novels or newspaper articles.

For example:

Su profesor, el cual enseña historia, era muy severo. - Your teacher, the one who teaches history, was very strict.

Sus amigos, los cuales viven en la casa enorme, eran muy simpáticos. - His friends, the ones who live in the enormous house, were very nice.

Practise what you've learned about relative pronouns in Spanish with this quiz.

Now you have learned about relative pronouns in Spanish why not explore object pronouns?