by Max Wheeler
the person I gave the parcel to
aquests companys nostres, a qui menyspreen els teus pares/que menyspreen …
those friends of ours, whom your parents despise
These stressed relative pronouns combine most readily with the unstressed prepositions (a, de, per, en, amb). Other prepositions, stressed and compound, tend to introduce the compound relative el qual, etc. (31.4.2; see 31.4.3 for non-standard use of el/la/els/les que in these cases).
On qui after pronoun or article antecedents, see 31.6.1 and 31.6.2; on qui as headless relative, see 31.7.
31.4 THE COMPOUND RELATIVE EL QUAL, ETC.
As remarked, qui, que, and què are all invariable. The compound relative el qual, la qual, els quals, les quals agrees in number and gender with its antecedent. Strictly speaking qual is an adjective (see 31.9) which, like other adjectives, can be used pronominally. El qual may substitute que, qui, and què as described in 31.4.1–3. Where the alternative does exist, preference for the compound el qual is more characteristic of the written than of the spoken language.
31.4.1 COMPOUND RELATIVE INSTEAD OF QUE
El qual can be used instead of que in a non-restrictive function, both as subject and as object of the relative clause:
Els inquilins, que/els quals se sentien perjudicats, van protestar
The tenants, who felt aggrieved, protested.
(Compare Els inquilins que se sentien …, restrictive function in which only que is used.)
En aquesta edició antiga, que/la qual vaig descobrir l’altre dia, hi ha menys errors
In this old edition, which I discovered the other day, there are fewer errors.
(Compare restrictive En l’edició que vaig descobrir l’altre dia …)
This use of el qual instead of que is recommended when the relative clause is separated from its antecedent (and where English might resort to a different construction):
Un bidell va pujar al despatx amb un sobre gros, quan ja era l’hora de plegar, el qual portava l’etiqueta «Urgent».
Α porter came up to the office with a large envelope, when it was already time for home, and this envelope had an ‘Urgent’ sticker on it.
Era una amistat de mena estranya, feta en temps difícils, interrompuda per llargues separacions, la qual és curiós que hagi durat tants anys
It was a strange sort of friendship, struck up in difficult times, interrupted by long separations, and it is odd that it should have lasted for so many years.
31.4.2 COMPOUND RELATIVE AFTER A PREPOSITION, ETC.
El qual, etc. can be used as an alternative to què or qui after any preposition (including the unstressed ones illustrated in 31.3): la qüestió a què al·ludia = la qüestió a la qual al·ludia ‘the matter I was alluding to’, les eines amb què treballen = les eines amb les quals treballen ‘the tools they work with’, la noia de qui s’ha enamorat = la noia de la qual s’ha enamorat ‘the girl he has fallen in love with’. In the case of an unstressed preposition preference for the compound form corresponds to a higher or more formal register, but not very markedly so unless this option is insistently resorted to.
On the other hand, after stressed and compound prepositions, the compound relatives are more usually found, and they are exclusively used after a gerund or an infinitive:
Són abusos contra els quals hem de protestar.
They are abuses we must protest against.
Seguí un període durant el qual l’empresa va prosperar.
There followed a period during which the business prospered.
l’estàtua al voltant de la qual havien plantat tota mena de flors
the statue around which all kinds of flowers had been planted
L’epidèmia, combatent la qual els metges havien esmerçat esforços enormes, acabà arrasant el país.
The epidemic, in combatting which the doctors had invested enormous efforts, in the end devastated the country.
Perderen uns privilegis per obtenir els quals havien treballat tota la vida
They lost privileges which they had worked all their lives to obtain.
As is illustrated in the examples above, the contexts in which compound relatives occur after a preposition tend to be of an elevated level of language, and this is more obviously so when they combine with an infinitive or gerund. More colloquial styles will tend to resort to simpler, analytical constructions (for example, Són abusos i hem de protestar) or to the relative pronoun groups discussed in 31.4.3.
31.4.3 THE GROUPS EL/LA/ELS/LES QUE
The combination el que, etc. is frequently heard after a preposition (instead of stressed què/qui or compound el qual, etc.), but is condemned as nonstandard, in particular, as a Castilianism. Sentences like the following have wide currency in all dialects:
Les dades amb les que treballa són falses. (non-standard)
The data he’s working with are false.
Han enderrocat els pilars sobre els que s’aguantava el pont. (non-standard)
They have demolished the pillars on which the bridge was supported.
Els artistes dels que parla són molt populars. (non-standard)
The artists she’s talking about are very popular.
Les companyes en les que confiava l’han abandonada. (non-standard)
The companions in whom she trusted have abandoned her.
For each such case the alternative with stressed què/qui is generally more acceptable in any level of language: Les dades amb què …; Els pilars sobre què (els quals) …, Els artistes de qui …, Les companyes en qui … As remarked in 31.4.2, use of compound el qual, etc. (for which the el que, etc. group are viewed as alien substitutes), introduced by stressed or compound prepositions, is characteristic of more formal language.
See 31.6.2 below for treatment of el/la/els/les que in a quite distinct construction, and 9.2.2 for el que as the neuter relative.
31.4.4 AMBIGUITY IN RELATIVE CLAUSES
Use of compound el qual is particularly convenient when ambiguity might otherwise occur over reference to an antecedent made in a non-restrictive relative clause. In the sentence Van conèixer les filles del gerent, a qui ja havien escrit sobre la qüestió They met the daughters of the administrator, to whom they had already written on the subject’, a qui could refer either to ‘the administrator’ or to ‘the daughters’. Either al qual (for the administrator) or a les quals (for the daughters) would clarify which referent is intended. Similarly:
Alguns títols d’aquesta sèrie, dels quals s’ha creat una demanda notable, seran reeditats aviat en una nova col·lecció de butxaca
Some titles in this series, for which a significant demand has arisen, will be republished soon in a new paperback collection.
Here dels quals refers clearly to títols, whereas de la qual would refer to sèrie, and de què would be ambiguous.
31.5 THE POSSESSIVE RELATIVE
We deal here with constructions corresponding to ‘whose’, ‘of which’, in English. Standard Catalan here is less agile than some other Romance languages (compare Spanish cuyo, French dont). In possessive relative constructions the object of possession + de is combined with the appropriate form of compound el/la/els/les qual(s), the latter agreeing in number and gender with the possessor. Thus:
una amic el nom de la qual
l’adreça
els cognoms
les característiques
a friend (m.) whose first name/address/surname/characteristics
una amiga el nom de la qual
l’adreça
els cognoms
les característiques
a friend (f.) whose first name/address/surname/characteristics
una amics el nom de la qual
l’adreça
els cognoms
les característiques
a friend (m.) whose first name/address/surname/characteristics
una amigues el nom de la qual
l’adreça
els cognoms
les característiqu
es
friends (f.) whose first name/address/surname/characteristics
The order preferred is, as above, with the object of possession preceding the relative, but inversion is occasionally found as in És un col·laborador del qual he comprovat la fidelitat ‘He is a collaborator whose faithfulness has been demonstrated to me’, equivalent of … la fidelitat del qual he comprovat.
This somewhat tortuous construction tends to be replaced in colloquial use by the simplified pattern involving que with possessive adjective introducing the object of possession (see 31.2.2) or with possession indicated by the clitic en:
una família que conec els seus secrets (non-standard)
una família que en conec els secrets (non-standard)
a family whose secrets I know
Only the following models, with the preposition de preceding the relative pronoun, are regarded as acceptable in writing or in formal speech:
una família de la qual conec els secrets
una família de què conec els secrets
An even more complex construction occurs when the relative noun phrase is the complement of a noun which is itself the object of a preposition:
Era un informe sobre la veracitat del qual tenia els meus dubtes.
It was a report about whose veracity I had my doubts.
Introdueixen un nou model dels avantatges del qual tothom parla
They are introducing a new model the advantages of which everybody is talking about.
31.6 OTHER ANTECEDENTS OF THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS
31.6.1 PRONOUNS AS ANTECEDENTS
As well as nouns or nominalized elements, pronouns may stand as antecedents of non-restrictive relative clauses:
M’acusen a mi, que no en sé res. They’re accusing me, and I know nothing about it.
aquells, que tant de mal van fer those people, who did so much harm
A demonstrative or indefinite pronoun may head a relative clause introduced by unstressed que, forming a restrictive clause. In the case of the demonstratives the meaning is ‘that/those/the one(s) who/which’:
Aquells que han fet això seran castigats. Those who did this will be punished.
Van interrogar a tothom que ho va veure. Everyone who saw it was interrogated.
Menyspreen tot allò que no entenen. They scorn all that they do not understand.
(Neuter relatives like the last example are discussed in 9.2.2.)
Qui may also be found in this context, referring to humans which are subjects of their relative clause: thus, aquells qui and tothom qui could occur in the first two of the preceding examples. More often, though, the distinction between human and non-human is eliminated in the undifferentiated use of que for all cases. In the further examples given below the possibility of optional qui is indicated:
No conec ningú que/qui ho entengui. I don’t know anybody who understands it.
No van esmentar ningú que coneguéssim. They didn’t mention anybody we knew.
Saludaven a tothom que veien. They greeted everyone they saw.
Jo admiro aquells que/qui parlen clar. I admire those who speak their mind.
The idiomatic expression com aquell que/qui no fa res (lit. ‘like the person who does nothing’) belongs to this set. It conveys the idea of an action being done without difficulty or complication:
Recità el soliloqui de Hamlet com aquell que/qui no fa res
He recited Hamlet’s soliloquy without giving it a second thought/with the greatest of ease.
31.6.2 ARTICLES AS ANTECEDENTS
A definite article may also be the antecedent of unstressed que (or qui, in line with the explanation given in 31.6.1), forming the groups el/la/els/les que and translating ‘the one(s) which’; further discussion is given at 35.1.1. (This construction is not to be confused with el que, etc., coming after a preposition, as described in 31.4.3.) The use and function of the definite article antecedent are similar to, and overlap with, the construction with the demonstrative: els que estimo = aquells que estimo ‘the ones I love’. The definite article is used more than the demonstrative when the referent is nonhuman:
Pots venir amb el tren del migdia ο amb el que surt a les 5 de la tarda.
You can come on the midday train or on the one which leaves at 5 p.m.
la camisa que porto i les que tine a la maleta
the shirt I am wearing and the ones I have in my suitcase
(Here aquestes que tinc a la maleta would only be heard if the shirts could be pointed to.)
Els que/qui ho van veure no se n’oblidaran mai
Those who saw it will never forget it.
Els que vam trobar eren tots estrangers.
The ones we found were all foreign/foreigners.
Va ser ella la que/qui em va ajudar més.
It was she who helped me most.
Els que surten perquè n’estan tips i els que entren perquè no tenen ganes de treballar, ni es fixen en els qui passen. (Jaume Fuster)
The ones coming out because they are fed up and the ones going in because they don’t feel like working don’t even notice the people going by.
An indefinite article may be the antecedent of this type of relative clause:
N’he vist unes que eren més grosses. I’ve seen some which were bigger.
Aquí n’hi ha un que he preparat abans. Here is one I prepared earlier.
(See also 31.7, for examples of hi ha in headless relative constructions.)
As observed in 9.2.2, to form the equivalent of an inanimate free (headless) relative clause, the definite article el is used as the dummy antecedent of an inanimate relative clause (el que ‘what’, ‘that which’). (Non-standard but frequent colloquial usage has lo que rather than el que in this construction.) The neuter demonstratives això and allò can alternate with el in this function of nominalizing an adjectival clause:
Va passar el que havia de passar.
That which/What had to happen did happen.
Això que dius és una vertadera beneitura.
What you are saying is really silly.
Allò que a tu et convindria és que demà plogués
What would suit you would be for it to rain tomorrow.
Observe that what we have here is the nominalization of a clause, rather than the omission of an understood noun. No supposed noun is suppressed in the examples given above. There are, however, near equivalents in which a noun appears as antecedent of the relative:
Va passar el fet que havia de passar.
The event that had to happen did happen.
Aquestes coses que dius són una vertadera beneitura.
These things you are saying are really silly.
La cosa que a tu et convdria és que demà plogués
The thing that would suit you would be for it to rain tomorrow.
A nominalized clause as the standard of a comparison may be introduced by del que (see 5.2.3):
ÉS menys important del que et penses. It is less important than you think.
Corre més del que corria. She runs more than she used to.
El que etc., may only have the role of subject or object in the relative clause. When any other role is involved, either the antecedent will be repeated or it will be represented by demonstrative aquest/aquell:
És un model nou, successor digne d’aquell al qual tanta gent s’havia afeccionat. (not *del al que)
It’s a new model, a worthy successor to the one that so many people had become fond of.
El nostre pis d’ara és més espaiós que aquell on vivíem abans. (not *que el on)
Our present flat is more spacious than the one we used to live in.
Porti’m una altra copa; que no m’agrada beure en les copes (= en aquestes) en què ja han begut altres persones
Bring me another glass; I don’t like drinking out of ones which other people have drunk out of.
(Not *en les en les que … or *en les en què …; colloquial language would use here … beure en les que ja hi han begut altres persones; see
31.2.2.)
31.7 HEADLESS RELATIVES
Headless relative clauses are also known as free or nominal relative clauses. Qui without an antecedent is an alternative to article + relative (el/la que/qui ‘the one who’) or demonstrative/indefinite + relative (aquell(a) que/qui, tothom que/qui) in many contexts where a human referent is involved:
Qui ha dit això no en sap res.
The person who/Whoever said this knows nothing about it.
Pots demanar-ho a qui vulguis.
You can ask whoever you want (= anyone).
Jo escric a qui bé em sembla.
I write to whoever I see fit.
A qui arribi primer, li donaran aquest trofeu
The first person to finish will receive this trophy.
This use of qui is characteristic of proverbs and similar expressions: Qui mal no pensa, mal no fa ‘He who thinks no evil does no evil’, Qui paga, mana ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune’, Qui dia passa, any empeny ‘We get a little older each day’. Other than in proverbs it is rather formal. El que, etc., (31.6.2) is the more everyday alternative, so corresponding to the first two above we might find El que ha dit això …, Pots demanar-ho al que vulguis.
The antecedent of a relative may be implicit in the construction (n’)hi ha ‘there are some (of them)’:
Hi ha qui creu que això és inviable. There are those who think this is unviable.
N’hi havia que no eren tan bons. There were some which weren’t as good.
The presence of an article or a demonstrative is compulsory when qui is plural, that is, when it agrees with a plural verb: