Reference · module 24
Longer sentences
Everything this module explains, on one page.
El libro que leí
Join two clauses with que.
- que joins a description to a noun: El libro que leí. La chica que vive aquí. One word covers both people and things.
- Spanish never drops it. English allows the book I read; Spanish requires el libro que leí with the que in place.
- If the clause identifies which one, there is no comma: El coche que compré. If it merely adds information, commas appear.
The mistake you are about to make
El libro leí es bueno.
El libro que leí es bueno.
English lets you drop the relative word — the book I read. Spanish never does: que has to be there.
Con quien, cuyo
Use the other relative words.
- After a preposition, a person takes quien: La chica con quien hablé. The preposition always goes first.
- For a thing, el que or el cual: La casa en la que vivo. The article agrees with the noun.
- cuyo means whose and agrees with what comes after it, not with the owner: El hombre cuya hija conozco.
The mistake you are about to make
el hombre cuyo hija conozco
el hombre cuya hija conozco
Cuyo means whose, so it looks like it should match the owner. It agrees with what follows: cuya hija.
Busco a alguien que sepa
Choose the mood inside a relative clause.
- If the person exists and you know them, the indicative: Conozco a alguien que sabe alemán.
- If they are only a description of what you want, the subjunctive: Busco a alguien que sepa alemán.
- After nadie, nada and ningún the subjunctive follows, because what is described does not exist: No hay nadie que lo sepa.
The mistake you are about to make
Busco a alguien que sabe alemán.
Busco a alguien que sepa alemán.
The person you are looking for may not exist, and a description of somebody hypothetical takes the subjunctive.
Reporting what was said
Turn direct speech into reported speech.
- Reported speech opens with dijo que and needs no quotation marks: Dijo que estaba cansado.
- The tense steps back one: present becomes imperfect, preterite becomes pluperfect, future becomes conditional.
- A yes-or-no question is reported with si: Me preguntó si tenía tiempo. A question word keeps its accent.
The mistake you are about to make
Dijo que está cansado.
Dijo que estaba cansado.
This is the same backshift as English — said he was tired — and it gets forgotten in Spanish all the same.