Learn Spanish (Latin America): El juez emitirá el certificado, el cual es necesario. - The judge will issue the certificate, which is necessary.

El juez emitirá el certificado, el cual es necesario.

The judge will issue the certificate, which is necessary.

Breakdown of El juez emitirá el certificado, el cual es necesario.

which / who (masculine singular)

Questions & Answers about El juez emitirá el certificado, el cual es necesario.

Could I just use que instead of el cual here?

Yes, you absolutely can. El juez emitirá el certificado, que es necesario is perfectly correct and much more common in everyday spoken Spanish. el cual means the exact same thing but sounds more formal or written.

Why is it el cual and not lo cual?

The formal relative pronoun must match the gender and number of the noun it replaces. Here, it refers to el certificado, which is a masculine, singular noun, so we use el cual. You would only use the neuter lo cual if you were referring back to an entire situation or idea rather than a specific noun.

Is the comma before el cual required?

Yes. We use el cual here to add extra, non-essential information about the certificate. Just like in English when we use "which" for a descriptive side-note, this type of clause must be set off by a comma.

What tense is emitirá?

It is the future tense of emitir (to issue). Unlike most Spanish tenses where you drop the ending, regular future tense verbs keep the full infinitive and add the ending to it. So, emitir plus á becomes emitirá.