Relative Pronoun Cujo (Whose — Possession) | Portuguese (Portugal) Grammar

Cujo is the Portuguese possessive relative pronoun — the single-word equivalent of English whose. It joins two ideas: a noun that possesses and a noun that is possessed. "The student *whose book I lost" → "O aluno cujo livro perdi." What trips up learners is the agreement rule: *cujo agrees with the thing possessed, not with the possessor. In "o aluno cujo livro perdi," the possessor is o aluno (masculine singular), but cujo is also masculine singular not because of aluno but because of livro — the thing possessed. Beyond this, cujo carries a formal register: it is essentially absent from casual spoken European Portuguese, where speakers rephrase with de quem or a different sentence structure. In writing — literary, journalistic, academic, legal — it is alive and expected.

The forms

Cujo has four forms, agreeing in gender and number with the noun it immediately precedes (the thing possessed):

Form	Agreement	Example
cujo	masculine singular	o aluno cujo livro perdi
cuja	feminine singular	a aluna cuja caneta perdi
cujos	masculine plural	o escritor cujos livros leio
cujas	feminine plural	a casa cujas janelas estão abertas

O aluno cujo livro perdi é o Pedro.

The student whose book I lost is Pedro. (livro = masc. sg. → cujo)

A aluna cuja caneta encontrei é a Ana.

The student whose pen I found is Ana. (caneta = fem. sg. → cuja)

O escritor cujos livros leio é português.

The writer whose books I read is Portuguese. (livros = masc. pl. → cujos)

A casa cujas janelas estão abertas é a minha.

The house whose windows are open is mine. (janelas = fem. pl. → cujas)

The agreement rule — the crucial point

This is the single most important thing to internalize about cujo: it agrees with the thing possessed, not the possessor.

English whose is invariable (the student whose book, the students whose books). Speakers of French, Spanish, and Italian also deal with this, but English speakers sometimes stumble because they have no internal habit of gender/number agreement to draw on.

Walk through an example slowly:

A menina cujas bonecas estão espalhadas pelo chão... (The girl whose dolls are scattered on the floor...)

Possessor: a menina — feminine singular.
Thing possessed: as bonecas — feminine plural.
cujas agrees with bonecas — feminine plural.

If you changed the possessor to a boy, cujas would stay the same:

O menino cujas bonecas estão espalhadas pelo chão... (The boy whose dolls are scattered on the floor...)

The possessor changed gender, but cujas didn't. That's because cujo/a/os/as locks onto the possessed noun.

O professor cuja paciência é lendária ensina há vinte anos.

The teacher whose patience is legendary has been teaching for twenty years. (paciência = fem. sg. → cuja, despite professor being masc.)

A cantora cujo álbum foi premiado dá um concerto amanhã.

The singer whose album won a prize is giving a concert tomorrow. (álbum = masc. sg. → cujo, despite cantora being fem.)

Os alunos cuja caligrafia é impecável receberam um prémio.

The students whose handwriting is impeccable received a prize. (caligrafia = fem. sg. → cuja)

A empresa cujos funcionários estão em greve fechou temporariamente.

The company whose employees are on strike closed temporarily. (funcionários = masc. pl. → cujos)

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The agreement test: identify the noun right aftercujo. That is the thing possessed. Match cujo to its gender and number. Ignore the gender of the possessor. This is the opposite of Spanish cuyo? No, it's the same — it's just that English speakers have no gender instinct to rely on, so the rule has to be explicit.

Cujo takes no article

Unlike the definite articles, demonstratives, and possessive pronouns that can precede nouns, cujo is never preceded by or followed by an article. You don't say o cujo livro or cujo o livro — just cujo livro.

❌ O aluno o cujo livro perdi...

Incorrect — no article before cujo.

❌ O aluno cujo o livro perdi...

Incorrect — no article after cujo either.

✅ O aluno cujo livro perdi...

The student whose book I lost...

This is one of the traps: Portuguese generally loves its articles (a minha mãe, o meu livro), but cujo is specifically article-free on both sides. Spanish cuyo follows the same rule, which may help learners coming from that language.

A cidade cuja história estudo é Évora.

The city whose history I study is Évora. (no article after cuja)

O artista cujas obras admiro é desconhecido.

The artist whose works I admire is unknown.

Cujo with prepositions

Cujo can be preceded by a preposition, and the preposition governs the relative clause, not cujo itself. Agreement still runs between cujo and the possessed noun.

O autor em cuja obra me inspirei já faleceu.

The author in whose work I found inspiration has passed away. (em + cuja obra)

A rapariga com cujos pais almoçámos é simpática.

The girl whose parents we had lunch with is nice. (com + cujos pais)

A organização a cujos princípios aderimos é internacional.

The organization to whose principles we subscribe is international. (a + cujos princípios)

O ministro de cujas decisões dependemos ainda não respondeu.

The minister on whose decisions we depend has not yet responded.

A lei segundo cujos termos agimos é de 1976.

The law under whose terms we operate dates from 1976.

Articles do not reappear here — the pattern is still preposition + cujo + possessed noun, with no o or a between them.

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Prepositions work normally with cujo, but because there's no article, the usual contractions don't apply. You don't contract em + cujo into anything — it stays as two words. The same with de cujo, a cujo, etc.

Cujo in everyday speech — rare to absent

Here is the register truth: cujo essentially does not appear in casual spoken European Portuguese. Native speakers typically paraphrase. The most common workarounds are:

Workaround 1: split the sentence in two

O aluno cujo livro perdi é o Pedro. (formal written)

The student whose book I lost is Pedro.

Perdi o livro do Pedro. Ele é aluno da turma.

I lost Pedro's book. He's a student in the class. (two simpler sentences)

O Pedro é um aluno — perdi-lhe o livro.

Pedro is a student — I lost his book. (colloquial, using the possessive dative)

Workaround 2: use de + article + quem or a demonstrative

É aquele senhor de quem te falei — o filho dele está no hospital. (informal)

It's that man I told you about — his son is in the hospital.

O aluno que eu tenho o livro dele é o Pedro. (very colloquial, avoids 'cujo')

The student I have his book (lit.) is Pedro.

That last construction — "o aluno que eu tenho o livro dele" — is what you will actually hear among speakers who want to avoid cujo but are not interested in rephrasing elegantly. Grammar books criticize it, but it is widespread in speech. Keep it in mind for listening comprehension; don't use it in writing.

Workaround 3: different sentence structure entirely

O Pedro é o aluno a quem perdi o livro. (rephrased around 'a quem')

Pedro is the student I lost the book of. (rephrased)

Aquela casa tem as janelas abertas — é a minha.

That house has its windows open — it's mine. (instead of 'a casa cujas janelas...')

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If you are a learner aiming for natural speech, you almost never need to produce cujo yourself. Recognize it in reading and formal listening. For production, rephrase. In writing, especially formal writing, use it — and use it correctly.

Usage contexts where cujo is alive

Despite its absence from everyday speech, cujo remains a fully living form in several contexts:

1. Journalism and news writing

O suspeito, cuja identidade não foi revelada, foi detido ontem à noite.

The suspect, whose identity has not been disclosed, was detained last night.

A empresa, cujo volume de negócios cresceu 20% no último trimestre, abriu uma nova filial.

The company, whose turnover grew 20% in the last quarter, opened a new branch.

2. Literature and literary criticism

O escritor, cujas obras foram traduzidas em dez línguas, recebeu o prémio ontem.

The writer, whose works have been translated into ten languages, received the prize yesterday.

Um homem cuja vida se desenrolara em silêncio voltou de repente à cena pública.

A man whose life had unfolded in silence suddenly returned to the public scene. (literary)

3. Legal and administrative writing

O cidadão cujo nome consta do documento será notificado.

The citizen whose name appears on the document will be notified.

As partes cujos direitos foram afetados podem recorrer.

The parties whose rights have been affected may appeal.

4. Academic writing

A hipótese cujas implicações vamos explorar neste capítulo foi formulada por Chomsky.

The hypothesis whose implications we will explore in this chapter was formulated by Chomsky.

Este é um fenómeno cujas causas ainda não são bem compreendidas.

This is a phenomenon whose causes are not yet well understood.

In all these registers, cujo is elegant and efficient. It condenses what would otherwise require two clauses or a clumsy workaround.

Cujo with indefinite or abstract antecedents

Cujo can also refer to abstract or indefinite antecedents (um assunto, uma decisão, uma teoria), not just human ones. Though rarer, this usage is attested in formal writing:

Um assunto cuja importância não devemos subestimar.

A matter whose importance we must not underestimate.

Uma decisão cujos efeitos se farão sentir a longo prazo.

A decision whose effects will be felt over the long term.

Uma teoria cujas premissas são discutíveis.

A theory whose premises are debatable.

Cujo vs de quem and do qual for possession

All three can express possession in Portuguese relative clauses, but they operate differently:

Form	Register	Structure
cujo + possessed noun	formal, written	o aluno cujo livro perdi
de quem + clause	neutral, spoken	o aluno de quem perdi o livro (uncommon)
do qual + clause	formal	o livro do qual o autor é português

With de quem and do qual, the possessed noun appears elsewhere in the clause with its own determiners; with cujo, the possessed noun sits right next to cujo with no article.

O autor cujo livro li é português. (cujo — direct)

The author whose book I read is Portuguese.

O autor de quem li o livro é português. (de quem — alternative, with 'o livro')

The author whose book I read is Portuguese. (literally: of whom I read the book)

Each has a slightly different flavor. Cujo is the most compact; de quem + full NP is chattier and tends to appear in less formal writing.

The false friend: cuja/s as an archaic pronoun ≠ cuja/s possessive

Occasionally in old texts you will see o cujo used as a standalone pronoun meaning something like "the one" — this is an archaic or regional usage that you can safely ignore for modern Portuguese. In contemporary EP, cujo is always followed by a noun, without an article.

Comparison with English

English whose has one form, no agreement, and is rare in speech only in very casual registers. Portuguese cujo has four forms, agrees with the possessed noun, and is absent from casual speech. The rules are more complex, and the style is more formal.

English	Portuguese
the man whose car I borrowed	o homem cujo carro pedi emprestado
the woman whose car I borrowed	a mulher cujo carro pedi emprestado (cujo still agrees with 'carro')
the man whose keys I found	o homem cujas chaves encontrei
the author whose book I read	o autor cujo livro li
the city whose history I study	a cidade cuja história estudo

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If English says whose, Portuguese has two options: use cujo (formal) or rephrase. If you are writing formally, use cujo and get the agreement right. If you are speaking or writing casually, rephrase — native speakers do the same.

Common mistakes

❌ O aluno cuja livro perdi é o Pedro.

Incorrect — 'livro' is masculine, so cujo, not cuja.

✅ O aluno cujo livro perdi é o Pedro.

The student whose book I lost is Pedro.

❌ A cantora cuja álbum foi premiado dá um concerto amanhã.

Incorrect — 'álbum' is masculine, so cujo álbum (not cuja, even though 'cantora' is feminine).

✅ A cantora cujo álbum foi premiado dá um concerto amanhã.

The singer whose album won a prize is giving a concert tomorrow.

❌ O aluno o cujo livro perdi.

Incorrect — no article before cujo.

✅ O aluno cujo livro perdi.

The student whose book I lost.

❌ O aluno cujo o livro perdi.

Incorrect — no article after cujo.

✅ O aluno cujo livro perdi.

The student whose book I lost.

❌ O filme cuja realizador ganhou o prémio é português.

Incorrect — 'realizador' is masculine, so cujo realizador.

✅ O filme cujo realizador ganhou o prémio é português.

The film whose director won the prize is Portuguese.

❌ A casa que as janelas estão abertas é a minha.

Incorrect — 'que' can't carry possession. Use 'cujas'.

✅ A casa cujas janelas estão abertas é a minha.

The house whose windows are open is mine.

❌ O autor que o livro dele li é português. (very colloquial)

Grammatically loose; acceptable in casual speech but not in writing. Prefer 'cujo livro'.

✅ O autor cujo livro li é português.