A relative clause

A relative clause

A relative clause in this language can be described as a group of words that describe nouns; therefore, they perform a similar role as an adjective. Due to the similarities between relative clauses and adjectives, in some cases, relative clauses can be referred to as adjective clauses. Relative clauses in Spanish always come after the noun, which they describe in the statement. For example, Él es el chico que siempre está de buen humor. In English, this sentence is, “He is a guy who is always in a good mood.” A relative clause in this statement is “que siempre está de buen humor” (who is always in a good mood.) From this example, you can notice that a relative clause describes a noun (chico.); therefore, the relative clause comes immediately after the noun in the sentence. In Spanish, there are two situations we can employ the use of relative clause: to explain or to specify.

The relative clauses that specify describes a person or a specific thing in a general statement. This description is used to indicate how that person or an item is different from possibilities. For example; “El chico que habla con Joy es Mark” (The guy who is talking with Joy is Mark.) The statement begins by generalizing individuals by using general noun “el chico” (the guy). Because the noun purpose is to describe many people, we specify the chico (the guy.) To achieve this, we had to use relative clause que habla con Joy (who is talking with Ann). By adding relative clauses that specify helps the listener to know an individual, we are talking about.