Relative Pronouns "Donde," "Lo Que," "Lo Cual", and "Cuyo"

RELEVANT LESSON:

1. Relative Pronouns: Donde, Cuyo, Lo que, Lo Cual

Explanation

Quick Answer

The relative pronouns donde, lo que, lo cual, and cuyo refer to a noun, phrase, or abstract concept previously mentioned in a sentence.

This article focuses only on some of the relative pronouns in Spanish. For information on the other relative pronouns, click here.

Donde

The relative pronoun donde, which translates to where, is used when you want to add information about a place you have already mentioned.

Donde changes to adondewhen used with verbs of motion and direction.

Do not confuse these with the accented forms dónde and adónde, which are used in questions.

Check out the following examples.

examples
Fui a un restaurante en Coyoacán, el barrio donde creció Frida Kahlo. I went to a restaurant in Coyoacán, the neighborhood where Frida Kahlo grew up.
El baño público era el lugar adonde iban los romanos para alternar. The bathhouse was the place where Romans went to socialize.

Lo que

The neuter relative pronoun lo que, which translates as what, can be used to refer to something that has already been mentioned in the same sentence or at the beginning of a sentence. It is used when the antecedent is an abstract concept not associated with a gender or number.

examples
No te voy a contar lo que dijo Ricardo. I'm not going to tell you what Ricardo said.
Lo que me molesta más es su arrogancia. What bothers me the most is his arrogance.

Lo cual

Lo cual, a neuter relative pronoun that translates as which, is used to refer to something that has already been mentioned in the same sentence that is not specifically masculine or feminine.

examples
Todos mis estudiantes aprobaron el examen, lo cual me alegró mucho. All of my students passed the exam, which made me very happy.
Mi hija no se quejó durante todo el viaje, lo cual me resultó muy extraño. My daughter didn't complain throughout the whole trip, which I found very surprising.

Cuyo

Cuyo, which translates to whose, always agrees with the noun it refers to in gender and number. Even though cuyo is a relative adjective, we are including it in this article because it functions like a relative pronoun in that it refers back to an antecedent. It has four different forms.

Masculine Singular	Masculine Plural	Feminine Singular	Feminine Plural
cuyo	cuyos	cuya	cuyas

Cuyo is technically not a relative pronoun because it agrees in number and gender with the possessed noun, not the possessor. For example, in the first example below, cuyo changes to agree with abuelos(the possessed noun), not amiga(the possessor).

examples
Mi amiga Marta, cuyos abuelos viven en Niza, me ha invitado a pasar el verano en Francia. My friend Marta, whose grandparents live in Nice, has invited me to spend the summer in France.
Conocí a la mujer cuyo minino se quedó atascado en un árbol. I met the woman whose kitty got stuck in a tree.