Breakdown of Incluso el terrateniente, cuyo patrimonio admiramos, vendió su casa.
la casa
the house
su
his/her/its/their/your (formal)
vender
to sell
admirar
to admire
cuyo
whose
incluso
even (including)
el terrateniente
the landowner
el patrimonio
the heritage (cultural, national, or assets)
Questions & Answers about Incluso el terrateniente, cuyo patrimonio admiramos, vendió su casa.
Why does cuyo take the masculine singular form here?
The relative pronoun cuyo (whose) must match the gender and number of the thing being possessed, not the owner. Here, it takes the masculine singular form to match patrimonio, regardless of the gender or number of the terrateniente.
I often hear native speakers say things like que su instead of cuyo. Is that allowed here?
In casual, spoken Spanish, you might hear people say el terrateniente que su patrimonio..., but this is considered grammatically incorrect (a common error known as quesuismo). cuyo is the proper way to say "whose" in a relative clause, even though it sounds quite formal and is mostly used in writing or careful speech.
Does patrimonio only mean "heritage" in this context?
While patrimonio frequently translates to "heritage" (as in cultural or historical heritage), in the context of a landowner or business, it is very commonly used to mean their "estate", "wealth", or "assets".
What is the literal breakdown of the word terrateniente?
It is a compound noun made from tierra (land) and teniente (holder, derived from the verb tener). It literally translates to "landholder" or "landowner".
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