A relative clause (oração relativa) is a dependent clause that modifies a noun, adding information about it: "o livro *que comprei" — "the book *I bought". The boxed part is the relative clause; que is the relative pronoun linking it to livro. Without relative clauses, Portuguese — like every natural language — would be crippled. Try telling any story without saying "the guy who...", "the place where...", "the thing that...": impossible.
This page introduces the whole system: the five relative pronouns Portuguese uses (que, quem, o qual, cujo, onde), when each one is required or preferred, and the fundamental distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses (signaled by commas). Dedicated pages drill into the details: restrictive vs non-restrictive clauses, relative clauses with prepositions, and possessive cujo.
What a relative clause does
A relative clause modifies a noun by describing it or identifying it. In grammatical terms, it functions as an adjective — just expanded into a full clause with its own subject and verb. The antecedent is the noun being modified; the relative pronoun is the linking word that starts the clause.
O rapaz que mora ao lado é muito simpático.
The boy who lives next door is very nice.
Breakdown:
- Antecedent: o rapaz ("the boy").
- Relative pronoun: que ("who").
- Relative clause: que mora ao lado ("who lives next door").
- Main clause: O rapaz [...] é muito simpático ("The boy [...] is very nice").
The relative clause embeds inside the main clause, splitting its subject from its predicate and adding identifying information in the middle.
O filme que vimos ontem foi excelente.
The film we saw yesterday was excellent.
Here que connects o filme (antecedent) to vimos ontem (clause), producing a noun phrase enriched by a description.
The five relative pronouns
Portuguese has five relative words. Each has a specific role:
| Pronoun | Used for | Typical position | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| que | People or things; most common | Subject or direct object of the clause | All registers |
| quem | Only people | After prepositions; occasionally as subject | All registers |
| o qual / a qual / os quais / as quais | People or things; agrees with antecedent | Often after prepositions; formal fallback for clarity | Formal / written |
| cujo / cuja / cujos / cujas | Possessive relation ("whose") | Before the possessed noun | Formal / written |
| onde | Places | Replaces "em que" for physical or abstract locations | All registers |
Let's walk through each one.
Que — the workhorse
Que is invariable. It doesn't change for gender or number. It works for people, things, concepts, events — anything.
A casa que compraram fica perto do rio.
The house they bought is near the river.
Os alunos que chegaram cedo podem sair primeiro.
The students who arrived early can leave first.
A ideia que ele apresentou era interessante.
The idea he presented was interesting.
Que can function as either the subject or the direct object of the relative clause. Portuguese doesn't distinguish "who" from "whom" or "which" from "that" — it's all que. This makes Portuguese simpler than English in this one respect.
O jornalista que escreveu o artigo é amigo meu. (que = subject)
The journalist who wrote the article is a friend of mine.
O artigo que o jornalista escreveu foi polémico. (que = object)
The article that the journalist wrote was controversial.
Quem — for people only, usually after prepositions
Quem is reserved for people. Its most common use is after prepositions:
A pessoa com quem falei era muito simpática.
The person I spoke with was very nice.
O colega a quem enviei o email ainda não respondeu.
The colleague to whom I sent the email hasn't replied yet.
A professora de quem te falei está doente.
The teacher I told you about is sick.
Crucially, in European Portuguese, the preposition goes before quem, not at the end of the clause. You cannot "strand" the preposition as English often does. "The person I talked to" becomes "a pessoa com quem falei" — literally "the person with whom I talked". Spanish and French speakers will find this natural; English speakers often have to retrain the instinct.
Quem can also appear without a preceding antecedent, meaning "the person who" / "whoever":
Quem não trabalha não come.
Whoever doesn't work doesn't eat. (proverb)
Quem chegar primeiro, ganha.
Whoever arrives first wins.
This use takes the future subjunctive after quem — see the subjunctive in relative clauses page.
O qual / a qual / os quais / as quais — formal, agrees with antecedent
Unlike invariable que, the o qual family agrees with its antecedent in gender and number:
- o qual — masculine singular
- a qual — feminine singular
- os quais — masculine plural
- as quais — feminine plural
These forms are mostly restricted to formal writing — journalism, legal text, academic prose. In spoken Portuguese they sound stiff, and native speakers default to que or quem for everyday relative clauses.
A proposta, a qual foi rejeitada pelo comité, será reformulada.
The proposal, which was rejected by the committee, will be reformulated. (formal)
Os documentos nos quais se basearam estão disponíveis online.
The documents on which they relied are available online. (formal)
When to use o qual instead of que:
- After multi-word or less common prepositions — segundo o qual ("according to which"), ao longo do qual ("throughout which"), em virtude do qual ("by virtue of which").
- To disambiguate — when que might refer to the wrong antecedent, o qual (with its gender and number) can pin down the reference.
- In formal writing — where variation and precision are valued.
O relatório do cliente, o qual nos foi entregue na semana passada, contém vários erros.
The client's report, which was given to us last week, contains several errors. (o qual agrees with o relatório, not o cliente)
In that last example, o qual (masculine, matching o relatório) makes clear that the "which was given to us" clause refers to the report, not to the client. Had the writer used que, ambiguity could arise. This is the disambiguation use of o qual.
Cujo / cuja / cujos / cujas — possessive
Cujo expresses possession — it's the Portuguese equivalent of "whose", and it agrees in gender and number with the possessed thing, not with the possessor. This is the single hardest thing about cujo, and the source of nearly all learner mistakes.
Aquela escritora, cujos livros já li todos, vai dar uma palestra.
That writer, whose books I've already read all of, is going to give a lecture.
Cujos is masculine plural because livros is masculine plural — even though the possessor (aquela escritora) is feminine singular.
O estudante cuja dissertação foi premiada vem cá amanhã.
The student whose dissertation was awarded is coming here tomorrow. (cuja agrees with dissertação, feminine singular)
Cujo is entirely restricted to formal writing in modern European Portuguese. In speech, people work around it with que + possessive pronouns ("a pessoa que o carro dela..." — "the person whose car..."). Full details on the cujo page.
Onde — for places
Onde replaces em que when the antecedent is a place (literal or figurative):
O restaurante onde jantámos ontem era ótimo.
The restaurant where we had dinner yesterday was great.
A cidade onde cresci mudou muito nos últimos anos.
The city where I grew up has changed a lot in recent years.
Em que would also be grammatical ("a cidade em que cresci"), but onde is more natural and more specific to locations.
Onde can also refer to abstract "places" — situations, circumstances:
Estamos numa altura onde é difícil prever o futuro.
We're at a point where it's hard to predict the future.
Purists sometimes argue onde should be reserved for literal places; in practice, modern Portuguese extends it readily to metaphorical locations.
For temporal contexts ("when"), use em que (or quando in some styles), not onde:
O dia em que nos conhecemos foi especial.
The day (when) we met was special.
❌ O dia onde nos conhecemos...
Incorrect — 'onde' is spatial, not temporal.
Restrictive vs non-restrictive: the comma rule
This is the single most important structural distinction in relative clauses, and the one that the dedicated restrictive vs non-restrictive page covers in detail. The short version:
- Restrictive (restritiva) — identifies which one we're talking about. Essential to the meaning. No commas.
- Non-restrictive (explicativa / apositiva) — adds extra information about an already-identified referent. Set off with commas.
Compare:
Os alunos que estudaram passaram no exame.
The students who studied passed the exam. (restrictive — only the ones who studied passed; not all students)
Os alunos, que estudaram, passaram no exame.
The students, who studied, passed the exam. (non-restrictive — all the students passed; they all studied, as additional info)
The comma changes the meaning entirely. In the first sentence, you're restricting the claim to the subset who studied. In the second, you're making a general claim about all the students and adding the fact that they studied as supplementary.
A minha irmã que mora em Lisboa vem visitar-me. (restrictive — implies I have multiple sisters and am identifying which one)
My sister who lives in Lisbon is coming to visit me.
A minha irmã, que mora em Lisboa, vem visitar-me. (non-restrictive — I have one sister; the Lisbon info is extra)
My sister, who lives in Lisbon, is coming to visit me.
Portuguese, like English, uses this comma distinction rigorously in writing. In speech, intonation does the same work — a slight pause and lowered pitch marks the non-restrictive clause.
Relative clauses with prepositions
When the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition, the preposition comes before the relative pronoun. Portuguese does not strand prepositions at the end of clauses.
O livro de que falei ontem é este.
The book I talked about yesterday is this one. (literally: 'the book of which I talked')
A amiga com quem viajei no verão vem cá no fim de semana.
The friend I traveled with in the summer is coming over this weekend.
A ideia em que pensei não funcionou.
The idea I thought about didn't work.
Common preposition + relative pronoun combinations:
| Combination | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| de que | "of which / of whom" | o tema de que falámos (the topic we discussed) |
| em que | "in which / on which" | a altura em que cheguei (the time at which I arrived) |
| com quem | "with whom" | o colega com quem trabalho (the colleague I work with) |
| a quem | "to whom" | a pessoa a quem enviei o email (the person I sent the email to) |
| por que / pelo qual | "for which / because of which" | a razão por que me fui embora (the reason I left) |
| para quem | "for whom" | o amigo para quem comprei o livro (the friend I bought the book for) |
Full coverage on the prepositions with relative clauses page.
Subject pronoun drop inside relative clauses
Portuguese is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns are usually omitted when the verb ending makes the subject clear. This applies inside relative clauses too:
O livro que li ontem era fascinante.
The book that I read yesterday was fascinating. (the subject 'eu' is dropped; 'li' is 1st singular preterite)
A carta que escreveste estava muito bem redigida.
The letter you wrote was very well written. ('tu' dropped; 'escreveste' is 2nd singular)
The subject pronoun appears inside a relative clause only when needed for emphasis or when the verb ending is ambiguous (e.g., the imperfect, where 1st and 3rd person singular share the same form):
A música que eu ouvia na adolescência era muito diferente.
The music I listened to as a teenager was very different. ('eu' retained to distinguish from 'ela ouvia')
Agreement: the verb in the relative clause
The verb inside a relative clause agrees with its subject, not with the antecedent (unless the antecedent is the subject).
Eu sou o único que sabe a resposta. (que = subject, 3rd singular)
I'm the only one who knows the answer.
Eu sou o único que sei a resposta. (informal, with agreement to 'eu')
I'm the only one who knows the answer. (alternative, with 1st-person agreement)
The first version (3rd singular sabe) is standard; the second (1st singular sei) is common in speech and reflects agreement with the actual referent. Both are acceptable; the first is what grammar books teach.
Common Mistakes
❌ O livro li ontem era interessante.
Incorrect — missing 'que'.
✅ O livro que li ontem era interessante.
The book I read yesterday was interesting.
English drops the relative pronoun freely ("the book I read"). Portuguese never drops que. Always include it.
❌ A pessoa que falei com é simpática.
Incorrect — preposition stranded at the end.
✅ A pessoa com quem falei é simpática.
The person I talked to is nice.
Portuguese puts the preposition before the relative pronoun. Stranding (putting the preposition at the end of the clause) is ungrammatical.
❌ A casa cuja é grande tem um jardim.
Incorrect — cujo agrees with the possessed thing, not standing alone.
✅ A casa cujo jardim é grande é minha. / A casa que tem um jardim grande é minha.
The house whose garden is big is mine. / The house with a big garden is mine.
Cujo never stands alone — it's always immediately followed by the possessed noun. In speech, you'd probably use que tem um... to avoid cujo altogether.
❌ Os alunos, que estudaram passaram. (missing second comma)
Incorrect — non-restrictive clauses need commas on both sides.
✅ Os alunos, que estudaram, passaram. / Os alunos que estudaram passaram.
The students, who studied, passed. / The students who studied passed.
Non-restrictive clauses need commas on both sides (or a comma and a sentence end). Restrictive clauses take no commas. Mixing them produces an unparseable sentence.
❌ A cidade onde cresci nela é pequena.
Incorrect — 'onde' already contains 'em' / 'nela'; don't double it.
✅ A cidade onde cresci é pequena.
The city I grew up in is small.
Onde already encodes "in which" — don't add a pleonastic pronoun. This is a resumption error common in L2 Portuguese.
❌ O livro qual comprei ontem era caro.
Incorrect — 'qual' alone is not a relative pronoun; use 'que' or 'o qual'.
✅ O livro que comprei ontem era caro.
The book I bought yesterday was expensive.
You need the full o qual / a qual form (with the article) when using the agreeing form. Bare qual is interrogative ("which?"), not relative.
Key Takeaways
- Que is the default relative pronoun — works for people and things, subjects and objects, restrictive and non-restrictive clauses.
- Quem is for people, mostly after prepositions. Preposition + quem, never stranded.
- O qual / a qual / os quais / as quais agree with the antecedent; used in formal writing or for disambiguation.
- Cujo / cuja / cujos / cujas means "whose" and agrees with the possessed thing, not the possessor.
- Onde replaces "em que" for places; not used for time.
- Restrictive = no commas, essential information. Non-restrictive = commas on both sides, extra information.
- Never drop que. English does; Portuguese doesn't.
- Prepositions go before the relative pronoun, not stranded at the end of the clause.
Dive deeper on dedicated pages: restrictive vs non-restrictive, prepositions + relative clauses, and cujo.
Related Topics
- Complex Grammar OverviewB1 — A map of advanced syntactic structures in European Portuguese — conditionals, reported speech, relative clauses, cleft sentences, concessives, causatives, and more
- Restrictive vs Non-Restrictive Relative ClausesB1 — The meaning difference — and the comma rule — between clauses that identify and clauses that merely comment.
- Relative Clauses with PrepositionsB1 — How to build relative clauses when the verb inside needs a preposition — em que, de que, com quem, a quem, sobre o qual.
- Relative Clauses with Cujo (Possessive)B2 — Building possessive relative clauses — the syntax, word order, and formal register of cujo-clauses.
- Future Subjunctive in Relative Clauses (Quem, O que, Onde)B2 — Using the future subjunctive after quem, o que, onde, como, and conforme — the construction European Portuguese uses for whoever, whatever, wherever, and however references to indefinite future participants.