Pronombres relativos - quien vs que
No tengo muchos problemas con los pronombres relatives, ´quien´ y ´que´, pero a veces, los tengo. Y sé, que hay situaciones en que los dos podrían funcionar. Pensé, que los dos ejemplos debajo serían situaciones de ambos posibilidades. Pero mi libro dice que tienen que ser ¨que¨, y no ¨quien¨
Pero porque?
I don´t have a lot of problems with the relative pronouns ´quien´ and ´que´ but sometimes do. And I know that there are situations in which either could work. I thought both of the below examples could be either, but my books says they must be ´que´ and not ´quien´
But why?
El estudiante que-quien mejor conozco de la casa es Gustavo.
El profesor que-quien sabe la respuesta está en la biblioteca ahora.
Gracias por ayudarme.
5 Answers
When the relative pronoun is not the object of a preposition and is used in a restrictive clause, que must be used.
La chica que acaba de llegar quiere hablar con usted.
The girl who (that) has just arrived wants to talk to you.
Los hombres que vi no estaban comiendo.
The men whom (that) I saw were not eating.
Roger,
Here is what my grammar book says:
- When there is a person functioning as the direct object of a clause, the relative pronoun a quien (a quienes) can replace the relative pronoun que.
- The pronoun quien replaces que after a preposition when it refers to a person. Que is only used to refer to things.
I have some examples if you want them, but I think you understand what this means. Sometimes books are a lot better than the internet.
Here's a wee lesson I've written especially, I hope it's useful.
Okay as requested these are the examples for que as a relative pronoun: (you'll have to translate them I'm not a speed typist)
La señora que habla ahora es cubana.
El periódico que está en la cocina es el de la semana.
Los muchachos que se van son de Bogotá.
La maestra que (o a quien) conocí tiene un doctorado.
Los muchachos a quienes (o que) recogimos eran pobres.
Here's the example for after a preposition:
Las flores en que estoy pensando eran rosas.
El médico con quien salí era colombiano.
Thanks Jubilado.
Unfortunately, this is in conflict with our answer guide. On some, it spells out either being an acceptable answer. But on these two, it only allows ´que´, which neither I nor my study partner Raquel, who is the sharpest young lady in the class, can understand.
I do best when I have a fairly clear rule or two, and then a ton of examples to pound it home. The book, which is OK overall, fails on this one miserably.
