If there is a single Spanish word you need to master in order to connect sentences together, it's que used as a relative pronoun. In this function que corresponds to the English that, which, and who, and it is by far the most frequent connector in the language. You'll use it hundreds of times in a single conversation.
What a relative pronoun does
A relative pronoun links a clause to a noun in a previous clause, giving you more information about that noun. In English:
The book that I bought is on the table.
Here that links the clause "I bought" to "the book" — it's a relative pronoun. In Spanish, the equivalent is almost always que.
El libro que compré está en la mesa.
The book that I bought is on the table.
Refers to people and things
Unlike English, which distinguishes between who (for people) and that/which (for things), Spanish que is happy to stand in for all of them. You can use it for people and for inanimate objects equally.
La casa que compramos es muy grande.
The house that we bought is very big.
El hombre que vive aquí es mi tío.
The man who lives here is my uncle.
Las películas que vimos anoche fueron aburridas.
The movies that we watched last night were boring.
Always invariable
Que never changes form. It doesn't have a feminine, a plural, or any other variant. One spelling, one pronunciation, no agreement rules to worry about.
Los estudiantes que estudian mucho sacan buenas notas.
Students who study a lot get good grades.
Las chicas que conocí ayer son simpáticas.
The girls I met yesterday are nice.
Don't drop it in Spanish
English speakers are used to dropping the relative pronoun in sentences like "the book I bought" or "the movie we saw." Spanish never allows this. The que must always be there.
El carro que maneja es nuevo.
The car he drives is new.
La comida que preparaste está deliciosa.
The food you prepared is delicious.
You cannot say *el carro maneja es nuevo — that's a completely different sentence. The que is the glue.
que in Spanish. It is never optional.Restrictive (defining) clauses — no commas
When que introduces information that is essential to identifying the noun — information without which the sentence wouldn't make sense — no commas are used. This is called a restrictive or defining clause, and que is the pronoun of choice.
Here "who study" tells us which children we mean — only the ones who study, not all of them. It's essential, and there are no commas.
Non-restrictive clauses — with commas
When the extra information is not essential, just a side comment, Spanish does use commas. Que still works here in most cases, although some writers prefer quien or el cual for formal writing (see the following pages).
Mi hermana, que vive en Lima, viene a visitarnos.
My sister, who lives in Lima, is coming to visit us.
The comma tells you this is extra background info — I only have one sister, and the fact that she lives in Lima is a bonus detail.
After short prepositions
After one-syllable prepositions like a, de, en, and con, you often need an article: al que, del que, en el que, con los que. This is covered more thoroughly in the el que / el cual page, but here's a quick preview.
La pluma con la que escribo es azul.
The pen I write with is blue.
en que and en el que used by native speakers. Both are grammatically acceptable, but en el que tends to sound a touch more polished in writing.Que vs qué — one is a pronoun, the other is a question word
Don't confuse the relative pronoun que (no accent) with the interrogative qué (with an accent). The first one links clauses; the second one asks a question.
No sé qué libro compró.
I don't know what book he bought.
El libro que compró es caro.
The book that he bought is expensive.
Takeaway
If you remember one thing from this page, make it this: que is your default relative pronoun. When in doubt, use it. Only reach for quien, el que, or el cual when there's a specific reason — a preposition, a formal register, or a need for clarity. We'll explore those cases on the next several pages.
Related Topics
- Relative Pronoun: Quien/QuienesB1 — Quien refers only to people and is used after prepositions or in non-restrictive clauses
- El Que and El CualB2 — Longer relative forms used for emphasis or after prepositions
- Lo Que and Lo CualB2 — Neuter relative pronouns meaning 'what' or 'which' referring to an idea