• What they are (qué son)
• The relative pronouns (los pronombres relativos)
  • Who - for people (para personas)
  • Which - for things and animals (para cosas y animales)
  • That - for people, things, and animals (para personas, cosas y animales)
  • Whose - for possession (para posesión)
  • Where - for places (para lugares)
• When can we omit the relative pronoun? (cuándo podemos omitir el pronombre relativo)
• Defining vs. non-defining relative clauses (especificativas vs. explicativas)

What they are (qué son)

Relative clauses are parts of a sentence that give us more information about a noun. They start with a relative pronoun: who, which, that, whose, or where.

🔹 Las oraciones de relativo son partes de una oración que nos dan más información sobre un sustantivo. Empiezan con un pronombre relativo: who, which, that, whose o where.

The man who lives next door is a doctor.
(El hombre que vive al lado es médico).

The book that I bought yesterday is very good.
(El libro que compré ayer es muy bueno).

The relative pronouns (los pronombres relativos)

Who - for people (para personas)

The woman who called you is my boss. (La mujer que te llamó es mi jefa).

I have a friend who speaks five languages. (Tengo un amigo que habla cinco idiomas).

Which - for things and animals (para cosas y animales)

The car which is parked outside is mine. (El coche que está aparcado fuera es mío).

She made a cake which was delicious. (Ella hizo un pastel que estaba delicioso).

That - for people, things, and animals (para personas, cosas y animales)

That can replace both who and which. It is the most common in everyday speech.

🔹 That puede sustituir tanto a who como a which. Es el más común en el habla cotidiana.

The woman that called you is my boss.

The car that is parked outside is mine.

Whose - for possession (para posesión)

Whose [hu:z] means cuyo/cuya/cuyos/cuyas:

🔹 Whose [hu:z] significa cuyo/cuya/cuyos/cuyas:

The man whose car is red is my neighbor. (El hombre cuyo coche es rojo es mi vecino).

I know a woman whose daughter lives in Japan. (Conozco a una mujer cuya hija vive en Japón).

Where - for places (para lugares)

The restaurant where we ate was fantastic. (El restaurante donde comimos era fantástico).

This is the city where I grew up. (Esta es la ciudad donde crecí).

When can we omit the relative pronoun? (cuándo podemos omitir el pronombre relativo)

When the relative pronoun is the object of the clause (not the subject), we can omit it. Compare:

🔹 Cuando el pronombre relativo es el objeto de la oración (no el sujeto), podemos omitirlo. Compara:

The book that I bought yesterday. => that is the object. I can say: The book I bought yesterday.

The man who lives next door. => who is the subject. I cannot omit it.

A simple trick: if there is another subject after the relative pronoun, you can omit it. The book (that) I bought - there is I after that, so we can omit it. The man who lives - there is no other subject, so we cannot omit it.

🔹 Un truco sencillo: si hay otro sujeto después del pronombre relativo, puedes omitirlo. The book (that) I bought - hay un I después de that, así que se puede omitir. The man who lives - no hay otro sujeto, así que no se puede omitir.

Defining vs. non-defining relative clauses (especificativas vs. explicativas)

A defining relative clause tells us which person or thing we are talking about. It is essential to the meaning. We don't use commas.

🔹 Una oración de relativo especificativa nos dice de qué persona o cosa hablamos. Es esencial para el significado. No usamos comas.

The man who lives next door is a doctor. (Which man? The one who lives next door).

A non-defining relative clause adds extra information that is not essential. We use commas. We cannot use that in non-defining clauses.

🔹 Una oración de relativo explicativa añade información extra que no es esencial. Usamos comas. No podemos usar that en las explicativas.

My brother, who lives in London, is a doctor. (I only have one brother. The clause just adds extra information).