Preposition + què/qui

Prepositional Relatives for Things and People

Level 6

After a preposition, accented què refers to things and qui to people.

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.

In formal prose, a person after a preposition commonly takes qui and a thing takes què, with el qual available as an agreeing alternative. Reconstruct escriure a la persona and parlar del tema to select a qui and de què. Avoid choosing a preposition from the main clause or from English word order. A relative normally already fills the embedded function and therefore does not need a second clitic repeating it.

Examples (3)

  1. És la persona a qui em dirigeixo.

    It is the person I am addressing.

  2. Aquest és el tema de què parlarem.

    This is the topic we will discuss.

  3. La norma segons la qual actuem és clara.

    The rule according to which we act is clear.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Preposition + què/quiLevel 6Prepositional Relatives for Things and People

Learn This First

Keep the preposition licensed by the relative’s embedded function. Build a personal free or prepositional relative with qui.

Words in This Pattern

qui