10. RELATIVE PRONOUNS Relative pronouns are called “relative” because they “relate” to a noun that has previously been stated. In practical terms, relative pronouns simply combine two sentences that share a common noun. In the following example, the common noun is “libro”: ¿Dónde está el libro? Where is the book? Uso el libro en clase de español. I use the book in my Spanish lesson. ¿Dónde está el libro que uso en clase de español? Where is the book that I use in my Spanish lesson? The most common relative pronoun is "que". "Que" is the Spanish equivalent of the English words who, whom, which, and that; it can refer to both people and things, and it can take the place of the subject or the object of a relative sentence: El hombre que vino ayer – The man who came yesterday (subject) El hombre que conocí ayer – The man whom I met yesterday (object) El terremoto que hubo ayer – The earthquake that happened yesterday (subject) El libro que perdí ayer – The book that I lost yesterday. (object) Note that, while in English you can often miss out the relative pronun in a sentence, in Spanish you must always include it: El hombre que conocí ayer – The man (that) I met yesterday Sometimes you can use the pronoun quien (or quienes) instead of que. However, in order to avoid confusion you might always want to use que instead of quien, unless the relative refers to a person (quienes if it’s more than one) and follows a preposition. El hombre que conocí ayer El hombre con quien hablé ayer El hombre a quien conocí ayer El hombre de quien te hablé ayer El hombre para quien trabajo EL hombre con quien trabajo El hombre por quien abandoné a mi marido When the relative refers to a thing rather than a person and it follows a preposition, que must be used: El boli con que firmé.
In English, although it is actually incorrect, it is quite common to end a relative sentence with a preposition: The man that I told you about The pen I signed with 27
