el qual (relatiu compost)

Compound Relative El Qual

Level 3

El qual, la qual, els quals and les quals agree with their relative antecedent.

How It Works

The compound relative can make a prepositional link explicit: el document en el qual consta l'acord. The form agrees with document, while the preposition expresses the relationship inside the relative clause.

Before el qual and els quals, a and de contract normally: al qual, del qual, als quals and dels quals. With feminine forms, keep the words separate: de la qual. This construction can help identify an antecedent when the sentence is complex and is common in careful or formal writing.

It is not a universal replacement for every restrictive que without a preposition. For a simple object or subject relative, que is usually the straightforward choice. Use the compound relative where its grammatical context and clarity justify it, keeping its agreement tied to the antecedent rather than to the relative clause's verb subject.

Examples (3)

  1. El document en el qual consta l’acord és aquí.

    The document in which the agreement appears is here.

  2. Les persones amb les quals vam parlar eren amables.

    The people with whom we spoke were kind.

  3. Aquest és el projecte del qual parlem.

    This is the project we are talking about.

How It Connects

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el qual (relatiu compost)Level 3Compound Relative El Qual

Learn This First

Retain a required preposition in the relative link.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

qual