Relative pronouns and personal "a"

Question

¡Buenos días!

A couple of questions about relative pronouns:

1) Los amigos a los que espero. (The friends that I'm waiting for.)

What does the "a" mean in this sentence? Is it a personal a? (I'm confused because I have just been studying that you don't use a personal a with "que").

2) El profesor con quien hablamos es muy estricto. (The teacher/professor with whom we are (or were) speaking is very strict.)

Why isn't there a "personal a" in this sentence? Is it because the professor isn't a direct object?

Muchas gracias todos!

Emma

Answer 1

That would be: Los amigos a quienes espero.

We use "que" when referring to people or objects. But when we are using the prepositions "a","de", or "con," then "que" can only be used to refer to objects. To work around that, we use "quien" to refer to people. The personal "a" indeed would be used here, because they are humans and you value them somewhat (the "a" is also used to express emotional attachment to people, pets, and objects).

The prepositions need to match what is being used with the verb. In this next example, they are talking "with" the professor, and "con" directly translates to that. You can also talk to the professor, in which case we would use a. When we do use a we do it because we don't "speak the professor," the professor isn't a language. We speak to the professor. One thing to notice, however, is that con is much more commonly used with "hablar".

2) El profesor con/a quien hablamos es muy estricto. (The teacher/professor with/to whom we are (or were) speaking is very strict.)

Thanks so much - this is a really clear answer. I will have to read over what you've written a few times but I think I get it! - Motema15, Jun 25, 2014

You are very welcome! - GuitarWarrior, Jun 25, 2014

Answer 2

I probably do not quite know how to express this in proper grammatical terms, but:

You do not use a personal “a” when another preposition is there: Salgo con ella= I go out with her. You just don't put two prepositions in a row like that.

In the second case that fits.

The first case is different, "los" is an object of the verb without a different pronoun being present, so needs a personal "a".

Los amigos que la esperan a Maria= The friends that are waiting for Maria. The friends are the subject of wait. Here "Maria" gets the personal "a" (and a "redundant" IO pronoun.)

Los amigos a los que espero= The friends for whom I am waiting. The friends are an object of wait, you (I) am the subject.

Hopefully that is understandable.

See the answer by GuitarWarrior, I think he is correct in suggesting "a quienes" as the more grammatically correct option. - bosquederoble, Jun 24, 2014

Answer 3

Maybe this will help... I hope so.

Los amigos a los que espero. = The friends whom I am waiting for...

The friends that I'm waiting for = Los amigos que espero...

Edit: I made the "a" bold.