el cual

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /el ˈkwal/ [el ˈkwal]
• Syllabification: el cual

Pronoun

el cual (relative, feminine la cual, neuter lo cual, masculine plural los cuales, feminine plural las cuales)

1. (for a person) who, whom

   Synonyms: quien, el que, que

   Gracias a los cuales no hicieron caso de mis recordatorios, no tendremos conexión a Internet en la casa hasta el mes que viene.

   Thanks to those who ignored my reminders, we won't have connection to the internet in the house until next month.

2. (for an object) which

   Synonyms: el que, que

   Esa noche, sentado junto a un árbol en el bosque, a través del cual vagaba incontables veces, me sentí como si estuviera más lejos que cerca de lo que yo era hasta algún momento perdido, con el cual todavía a veces sueño, como si me despertara en algún lugar no conocido por aquellos como yo, un lugar tan fuera de sí mismo como fuera de todo lo demás.

   That night, sitting next to a tree in the forest, through which I've wandered countless times, I felt as if I were farther than closer to what I was until some lost moment, about which I still sometimes dream, as if I woke up in some place not known by those like me, a place as outside itself as outside of everything else.

Usage notes

While the relative pronouns el cual, el que and que are in some cases interchangeable, the Royal Spanish Academy advises several guidelines for determining which should be used in particular situations. Please note that this is not a comprehensive examination of the use of these pronouns and there are several exceptions to the descriptions listed here.

• el cual
  • only used when the antecedent is explicit
  • can always begin a non-defining clause (oración explicativa)
  • can only begin a defining clause (oración especificativa) when it is the object of a preposition
  • the most formal of the relative pronouns, typically only used in writing and such
• el que
  • less formal than el cual and can be used in its place in many situations that would not require simply que
  • can be used with both explicit and implicit antecedents
  • when it is the subject of multisyllabic prepositions or prepositional phrase (e.g., a través de, a consecuencia de, etc.) el cual tends to be preferred
  • similarly, if there are many words intervening between the antecedent and the relative pronoun to which it refers, el cual is more likely to be preferred
• que
  • can be used with both explicit and implicit antecedents in defining and non-defining clauses
  • can be used to begin both defining clauses and non-defining clauses, except when it is the subject of a preposition, in which case el que is required

Further reading

• “el cual, la cual, lo cual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
• “cual” in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, segunda edición, Real Academia Española, 2023. →ISBN