Breakdown of La institución emitió las visas, las cuales esperábamos.
esperar
to wait / to hope / to expect
la visa
the visa
emitir
to issue
la institución
the institution
Questions & Answers about La institución emitió las visas, las cuales esperábamos.
Why do we use las cuales instead of just que in this sentence?
You could actually use que here! Las cuales is simply a more formal way to say "which" or "who." You will often see el cual, la cual, los cuales, and las cuales in written Spanish, news, or formal speech. In everyday conversation, people would usually just say ...las visas, que esperábamos.
Why is it las cuales and not los cuales?
These formal relative pronouns must always match the gender and number of the noun they refer back to. Here, the pronoun refers to las visas, which is feminine and plural. Therefore, you must use the feminine plural form, las cuales.
Why does this sentence use a comma before las cuales?
When using forms of el cual without a preposition like de or por, they are almost always used to add extra, non-essential information to the sentence. Just like in English, these extra-information clauses are set off by commas. If the clause was essential to identify which specific visas were issued, you would drop the comma and simply use que.
Why is emitió in the preterite tense but esperábamos is in the imperfect?