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Los descendientes tienen que investigar el linaje cuyo origen es antiguo.

Los descendientes tienen que investigar el linaje cuyo origen es antiguo.
The descendants have to investigate the lineage whose origin is ancient.
From Lesson 266:Relative possessive adjectives (cuyo)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Los descendientes tienen que investigar el linaje cuyo origen es antiguo.

Does cuyo match the word before it (linaje) or the word after it (origen)?
It matches the word after it! Unlike the English word 'whose', cuyo acts as an adjective that must agree in gender and number with the thing being possessed, not the owner. Since origen (origin) is masculine and singular, we use cuyo. If the sentence were about ancient roots (raíces, which is feminine plural), it would be cuyas raíces.
Why do we need que in tienen que investigar?
In Spanish, the phrase for 'to have to' (expressing an obligation) is always tener que followed by an infinitive verb (like investigar). If you drop the que, tener just means 'to possess', which wouldn't make grammatical sense here.
Is linaje masculine or feminine?
It is masculine (el linaje). As a helpful rule of thumb for building your vocabulary, Spanish nouns ending in -aje (like el mensaje, el viaje, el equipaje) are almost always masculine.
Why is it es antiguo instead of está antiguo?
We use es (from the verb ser) because being ancient is an inherent, permanent characteristic of this lineage's origin. We use estar for temporary states or conditions, but an ancient origin doesn't change over time!

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