qui

Personal Relative Qui

Level 4

Qui refers to people in free relatives and after prepositions.

How It Works

Qui vulgui pot entrar means whoever wants may enter. There is no separate noun antecedent: the relative expression itself names the person or people meeting the condition. After a preposition, qui can refer back to a stated person: la dona amb qui treballo.

With an ordinary noun antecedent and no preposition, subject relatives generally use que: la dona que treballa aquí. Do not replace every English who with qui regardless of the construction.

A free relative uses indicative for an identified or asserted group and can use subjunctive for an open, nonidentified one. The verb form therefore helps show whether the person is known or merely defined by a condition.

Examples (3)

  1. Qui vulgui pot entrar.

    Whoever wants may enter.

  2. És la dona amb qui treballo.

    She is the woman I work with.

  3. Conec la persona a qui has escrit.

    I know the person you wrote to.

How It Connects

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quiLevel 4Personal Relative Qui

Learn This First

Assign the relative’s preposition and person/thing reference before expanding the construction.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

qui