Advanced Relative Pronouns
Advanced Relative Pronouns
Beyond que and quien, Spanish has a few specialized relative pronouns for referring back to a whole idea, or marking possession — jobs English splits across 'what' and 'whose'.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Lo que refers to an entire idea, not a specific noun
no entiendo lo que dices (I don't understand what you're saying) — lo que stands for the whole statement, not one word
what you're saying — 'what' does the same job
Lo que is Spanish's way of saying 'that which' or 'what' when there's no specific noun being referred back to — only a whole idea or situation. It maps closely onto English 'what' used this way, so this one should feel relatively natural once you notice the pattern.
Cuyo means 'whose' and agrees with the noun it introduces
el hombre cuyo perro ladra (the man whose dog barks) — cuyo agrees with perro (masc.), not with 'the man'
the man whose dog barks — 'whose' never changes form
Cuyo (whose) is a formal, mostly written word that agrees in gender and number with the noun that follows it — the thing possessed — not with the possessor. This is the opposite of what English 'whose' does (which doesn't change at all), and cuyo is rare enough in speech that que + tener is often used instead in conversation.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- what you're saying
- English
- I don't understand what happened
- English
- that's what I want
- English
- whose (masc.)
- English
- whose (fem.)
- English
- the man whose dog barks
- English
- the one that (masc.)
- English
- the one that (fem.)
- English
- which (formal)
- English
- everything you need