Breakdown of Fue el arrendatario quien infringió la cláusula, es decir, él rompió la regla.
ser
to be
él
he
romper
to break
quien
whom / who (relative singular)
la regla
the rule
es decir
that is to say
el arrendatario
tenant
infringir
to infringe / to violate
la cláusula
clause
Questions & Answers about Fue el arrendatario quien infringió la cláusula, es decir, él rompió la regla.
How does es decir function in this sentence compared to o sea?
Both es decir and o sea mean 'that is' or 'in other words', and they are used to clarify or rephrase something you just said. Here, es decir is used to explain the formal phrase infringió la cláusula in simpler terms (rompió la regla). You could absolutely use o sea here instead, though es decir sounds slightly more formal and fits well with legal vocabulary like arrendatario.
Why use quien here instead of que? Can I say Fue el arrendatario que infringió...?
Yes, you can use que here, but quien is much more common and natural in this specific sentence structure. This is a cleft sentence, used for emphasis, like saying 'It was the tenant who...'. When emphasizing a person after the verb ser (like Fue el arrendatario), Spanish strongly prefers quien over que to mean 'who'.
What is the difference between infringió and rompió in this context?
Both refer to breaking a rule, but they belong to different registers, meaning levels of formality. Infringir is formal and often legal, translating closer to 'violate' or 'infringe upon' a clause or law. Romper is the everyday word for 'break'. The speaker deliberately pairs the formal infringió la cláusula with the casual rompió la regla to explain exactly what happened, using the marker es decir to bridge the two.
Why is the pronoun él included before rompió when Spanish usually drops subject pronouns?
While not strictly required, adding él here helps re-establish the subject clearly after the pause created by es decir. Since the sentence has shifted from a complex structure (Fue el arrendatario quien...) to a completely new, simpler clause, throwing in the él gives the listener a clear anchor for who did the breaking.
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