The One Who (Тот, кто)
To say "he who", "the one who", or "anyone who" in Russian, use the pair тот, кто (literally "that one, who"). Always place a comma between the clauses.
That Which / What (То, что)
To say "that which" or "what" (as a statement, not a question), use the inanimate equivalent то, что ("that, which").
Declining the Correlatives
Because тот/то and кто/что belong to different clauses, they decline independently.
- The first half (тот or то) takes the case required by the main clause.
- The second half (кто or что) takes the case required by the relative clause.
For example, if you say "I do not know the one who...", the main clause requires the accusative case for an animate object (того), but the relative clause needs the nominative case for its subject (кто):
If you say "He who has a sword...", the main clause subject is nominative (тот), but "has" requires the genitive case with у (у кого):
The same rule applies to то, что. Here, the main clause uses the prepositional case after о (about), while the relative clause takes the accusative case (the object of what the gods did):