Breakdown of El abogado redactó el documento, el cual hay que firmar.
firmar
to sign
el documento
the document
hay que
(with que) one has to / must
el abogado
the lawyer
Questions & Answers about El abogado redactó el documento, el cual hay que firmar.
Why use el cual instead of just que for "which"?
How do we know to use el cual rather than lo cual or la cual here?
The pronoun needs to match the gender and number of the noun it refers back to. Since it refers to el documento (masculine, singular), we use el cual. If it referred to a letter (la carta), it would be la cual. You would only use lo cual if you were referring back to the entire previous idea or situation, rather than a specific noun.
The English translation says "which must be signed", but the Spanish says hay que firmar. Why isn't it passive?
English often uses the passive voice ("must be signed") when it doesn't matter who is doing the action. Spanish usually avoids the passive voice and prefers impersonal expressions like hay que + infinitive, which means "one must" or "it is necessary to". So hay que firmar essentially means "it is necessary to sign."
Could I use escribió instead of redactó?