Relative pronouns join two sentences that share something, so you don't have to repeat it. Tengo un amigo. El amigo vive en Perú. → Tengo un amigo que vive en Perú.
Que covers roughly 80% of cases. It works for people and things, singular and plural, subject and object. When in doubt, it's probably que.
Spanish can't drop it. English happily says "the book I read," leaving "that" out. Spanish never does: el libro que leí is obligatory. Forgetting it is one of the most recognisable English-speaker mistakes.
Used for people, mainly after a preposition or between commas. After a preposition referring to a person, you can also use el que / la que.
Use these when you need to make clear which noun you mean, or after a preposition. They carry gender and number, so they remove ambiguity.
Lo que refers to a whole idea rather than a specific noun. It's the Spanish for "what" when "what" isn't a question.
Cuyo shows possession, and here's the trap: it agrees with the thing possessed, not with the owner.
| Word | Replaces | Example |
|---|---|---|
| donde | en el que / en la que | La ciudad donde nací. |
| cuando | en que (time) | El año cuando nos conocimos. |
| como | de la manera que | No me gusta como lo dijo. |
Commas change the meaning. Mis hermanos que viven en Madrid vendrán means only the ones in Madrid are coming — you have others elsewhere. Mis hermanos, que viven en Madrid, vendrán means all of your brothers are coming, and by the way they all live in Madrid.
1.El libro ___ leí ayer era fascinante.
2.Translate the structure of "The book I read" into Spanish:
3.La mujer con ___ hablé es la directora.
4.No entiendo ___ dices.
5.El escritor ___ libro leí es mexicano.
6.La empresa ___ empleados protestan es muy grande.
7.La ciudad ___ nací es muy pequeña.
8.___ llegaron tarde no entraron al concierto.
9.What does cuyo agree with?
10.Mi hermano, ___ vive en Lima, viene mañana.
11.Esa es la razón por la ___ me fui.
12."Mis hermanos, que viven en Madrid, vendrán" means:
Book a class with Ángel and practise describing people and places in detail — relatives are what make a description flow.