con los que - what is 'los' a substitute for?

Question

In the sentence 'Pero ahora, la búsqueda comienza para toda la gente con los que tuvo contacto' I am confused about the 'los' in the phrase 'con los que'. I think the 'los' refers to 'toda la gente' and should be 'la' -- 'con la que'. 'But now, the search begins for everyone with whom he had contact.' Appreciate any insight to better understand.

Answer 1

As is stands I agree with you: con la que. That would be grammatically correct. If this is from a Spanish language paper in the USA it could be that the writer is bilingual and unconsciously affected by English "people" being plural.

Answer 2

Hi there! No wonder you're confused.

In my opinion, the original sentence in Spanish is not correct and your suggestion with 'con la que' is totally right. Should be:

Pero ahora, la búsqueda comienza para toda la gente con la que tuvo contacto.

or

Pero ahora, la búsqueda comienza para todos con los que tuvo contacto.

The meaning is nearly the same:

• toda la gente = everybody
• todos = all, all people, one and all

Neat summary. - annierats, Oct 15, 2014

Wonderful explanation. - cdunn3, Oct 15, 2014

Answer 3

The search is starting for all those (people/persons) with whom he had been in contact.

Gente here is used in the sense of 'personas'.

Answer 4

*con la que

"la" refers to "la gente."

Don't use "los" here.