Relative Pronouns in Spanish Translation II

In this unit we will look at a few more Spanish relative pronouns, namely ‘quien´ and quienes´, ‘el que´ and ‘el cual´, ‘lo que´ and ‘lo qual´ and cuyo. We will examine the problems they might cause during Spanish translation.

‘Quien´ and its plural form can be used in the following instances:

• to refer to persons
• instead of ‘que´ in nonrestrictive clauses
• as a Spanish translation of the English expressions ‘he who´, ‘the one who´, those who´, etc.

While referring to a person, ‘quien/quienes´ must be placed immediately after the prepositions. For example, ‘Los señores de quienes hablaba le esperan en el aeropuerto.´ (The gentlemen of whom I was speaking are waiting for you at the airport.)

‘El que´, ‘el cual´ and their feminine and plural forms can be used in the following instances:

• instead of ‘que´ when it is required to specify the gender of the person
• as objects of prepositions
• like ‘quien´, as a Spanish translation of the English expressions ‘he who’, ‘the one who’, ‘those who’, etc. in nonrestrictive clauses.

For example, ‘Los que tienen dinero deben saber gastarlo.´ (Those who have money should know how to spend it.)

‘Lo que´ and ‘lo cual´ are neuter relative pronouns, that is they cannot be used to refer to objects with gender. They can only be used to refer to ideas and complete statements. For example, ‘Lo que usted me propone es muy interesante´ (What you are proposing to me is very interesting.)

‘Cuyo´ is the Spanish translation of the English relative pronoun ‘whose´. ‘Cuyo´ must be in agreement with the number and the gender of the noun that it is referring to. For example, ‘Es un director cuyas películas son famosas por toda Europa.´ (He is a director whose films are famous throughout Europe.)