RELATIVE PRONOUNS / PRONOMBRES RELATIVOS

SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS

It is well known that relative pronouns (who, which, that, whose,…) always
introduce a Relative Clause. e.g.:

-She moistened her lips, which were already shiny with carefully applied gloss.1

-“Do you support free enterprise, the thing that made this country great?”2

-Those who wrote for women’s papers put, “Lady Horbury wore one of the new
collegian hats and fox furs,” or “Lady Horbury, who is one of the smartest women in
town, wore black with one of the new collegian hats,” or “Lady Horbury, who before her
marriage was Miss Cicely Bland, was smartly dressed in black with one of the new
hats…”3

These “relative pronouns” (“relacionantes” in Spanish) will have different syntactic

functions depending on the relative pronoun which introduces the relative clauses, i.e.

a.which (and “in which”, “on which”, etc) – who – that

que (“en el que/cual”, “sobre el que/cual”, etc) – quien

...have a nominal or adjectival function; consequently, they may be…

English Español
1.head of the subject 1.núcleo del sujeto
2.direct object 2.objeto directo
3.prepositional complement 3.término

b.whose – cuyo/a

…has an adjectival function; consequently, it may be…

1
Brown, Sandra (1990). Mirror Image. New York: Warner Books.
2
Morrell, David (1999). Black Evening. USA: Warner Books.
3
Christie, Agatha (2001). Death In the Clouds. Great Britain: Harper Books.
English Spanish
1.possessive determiner 1.modificador directo

c.where – when – …

donde – cuando - …

...have an adverbial function; consequently they maybe…

English Spanish
1.Adverb 1.circunstanciales (de lugar, modo,…)

Examples:

1.The glitch, (1)which Espen discovered, is only minor.

El desperfecto, (1)que Espen descubrió, es un dato menor.

(1)which Espen discovered (1)que Espen descubrió

[Espen discovered it] [Espen descubrió eso]

which: relative pronoun / direct object que: pronombre relativo / OD

2.I really enjoy the author (1) whose poems were just published.

Me gusta mucho el autor (1)cuyos poemas acaban de publicarse.

(1)whose poems were just published. (1)cuyos poemas acaban de publicarse.

[his poems were just published] [acaban de publicarse sus poemas]

whose: relative pronoun /possessive cuyos: pronombre relativo/ modificador

determiner directo

3.The hotel (1)where we stayed on vacations had lovely rooms.

El hotel (1)donde nos alojamos en vacaciones tenía hermosas habitaciones.

(1)where we stayed on vacactions (1)donde nos alojamos en vacaciones

[we stayed there on vacations] [nos alojamos allí…]

where: relative pronoun / adverbial donde: pronombre relativo/ complemento

circunstancial de lugar
4.The teacher punished the students (1)that cheated on the test.

El profesor castigó a los alumnos (1)que se copiaron en la evaluación.

(1)that cheated on the test. (1)que se copiaron en la evaluación

[the students cheated on the test] [los alumnos se copiaron en la

evaluación]
that: relative pronoun / subject
que: pronombre relativo / sujeto

5.These are the kids (1) Ø (that) I like you to play with.

Estos son los chicos (1)con los que me gusta que juegues.

(1)Ø (that) I like you to play with. (1)con los que me gusta que juegues.

[I like you to play with these kids] [me gusta que juegues con ellos]

Relative pronoun: Ø que: pronombre relativo / complemento

circunstancial de compañía
On the whole, relative pronouns are
omitted in English when language is too
informal. On the other way round, its use
in Spanish informal contexts is
compulsory.

6.A famous artist designed the garden (1) that you just looked at.

Un artista famoso diseñó el jardín (1) que acabas de ver.

(1)that you just looked at. (1)que acabas de ver.

[you just looked at it] [acabas de ver eso]

that: prepositional complement que: objeto directo (*)

(*)See my comments below

COMMENT: This is a beautiful example that clearly depicts the typology between
English and Spanish language. Many particles, which Talmy (1991, 2000) calls
“satellite”, may form a unit or not with the verb (in this case, the particle “at” in “looked
at”); that is why English represents a “satellite-framed language”. These phrasals do
not occur in Spanish. English phrasal are always translated into mere verbs in Spanish
(in this case “look at” – “ver”). So, according to Talmy’s theory, Spanish language is
considered a “verbal-framed language”.
Consequently, as perceived, the function of the relative pronouns differs, in this
example, from one language to the other. And this could only be seen through a CA
(contrastive analysis) work.