Breakdown of ¿Ves el carro que maneja el sospechoso?
el carro
the car
ver
to see / to look / appear
manejar
to drive
que
that / than
Questions & Answers about ¿Ves el carro que maneja el sospechoso?
In English, I can say "Do you see the car the suspect is driving?" and skip the word "that". Can I drop que in Spanish?
No, you can never leave out que in Spanish. Even though English lets us skip "that" in phrases like "the car the suspect is driving," Spanish strictly requires que to link the two parts of the sentence.
Why is the word order que maneja el sospechoso instead of que el sospechoso maneja?
In Spanish, when you use que to add more information about a noun, it is very natural to put the verb (maneja) right after que, followed by the subject (el sospechoso). You can technically say que el sospechoso maneja, but putting the verb first flows much better and is the standard way native speakers talk.
Why doesn't this sentence use the personal "a"?
The personal "a" is only used when a specific person or pet is the direct object receiving the action of a verb. Here, you are seeing el carro, which is a thing, not a person. And while el sospechoso is a person, they are the subject doing the driving, not the object being driven, so no personal "a" is needed there either.