què
Prepositional Relative Què
Accented què refers to things after a preposition in a relative clause.
How It Works
El tema de què parlem contains de because parlar governs de. El projecte en què participem contains en because participar takes en. Què bears an accent in these prepositional relative uses and does not vary with the antecedent.
For a person, use qui or a suitable form of el qual instead. For a thing, el qual and its agreeing forms offer a more explicit formal alternative: el tema del qual parlem.
The preposition comes from the function within the relative clause. It is not the preposition before the antecedent in the main clause. Do not drop it as though this were a finite complement introduced by conjunction que.
Examples (3)
- Aquest és el tema de què parlem.
This is the topic we are discussing.
- És el projecte en què participo.
It is the project I am participating in.
- La clau amb què obro la porta és nova.
The key I open the door with is new.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Assign the relative’s preposition and person/thing reference before expanding the construction. Recognize lexical preposition government before replacing or dropping its complement marker.
- Preposition + qui/quèPreposition Plus Qui or Què in Relatives
Assign the relative’s preposition and person/thing reference before expanding the construction.
Level 3 - Verb/Noun/Adjective + deGovernment with De
Recognize lexical preposition government before replacing or dropping its complement marker.
Level 3
Related Patterns
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Words in This Pattern
Practice què in Bubblegum
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