Breakdown of El río tiene un borde peligroso, junto al cual no debes caminar.
no
no, not
tener
to have
un
a, an (masculine)
caminar
to walk
junto a
next to
peligroso
dangerous
el río
the river
deber
must / should
el borde
the edge
cual
which / who (relative pronoun)
Questions & Answers about El río tiene un borde peligroso, junto al cual no debes caminar.
Why use al cual here instead of al que?
Both al cual and al que are correct here. After a compound preposition like junto a, you need an article (el, la, etc.) before the relative pronoun. El cual (and its forms) is slightly more formal and very common in writing for 'which,' but junto al que works perfectly well too in spoken Spanish.
Where exactly does the al come from in junto al cual?
It is the required contraction of the preposition a (part of the phrase junto a, meaning 'next to') and el (the article that matches the masculine, singular noun borde). Whenever the preposition a is followed by the article el, they must combine into al.
Why can't I just say junto a que without the article?
After multi-word prepositions like junto a (next to), cerca de (near), or debajo de (under), Spanish requires you to include the definite article (el, la, los, las) before the relative pronoun. Therefore, it must be junto al que or junto al cual, never just junto a que.
In English, we might say 'which you shouldn't walk next to.' Can I leave the preposition at the end of the clause in Spanish?
No, Spanish never strands a preposition at the end of a sentence or clause. The preposition must always come immediately before the relative pronoun it relates to. That is why junto a stays firmly attached to al cual at the beginning of the clause.
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