A concise and simplified grammar of the Spanish language

48 ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX.
quien. Relative Pronouns in Spanish do not vary their
terminations on account of case, but admit the same Prepo-
sitions as personal Pronouns do in the several cases.
134. Quien and cual have a plural termination, as,
quienes, cuales ; but they are common to both genders.
Quien refers to persons only, and cual both to persons and
things: Ex.
El es quien lo tiene. It is he who has it.
Los señores con quienes hablaba The gentlemen with whom you
Vmd. were speaking.
Las señoras k quienes or d las The ladies to whom I sent the
males envié el recado. message.
Es una ciencia de la cual tengo It is a science of which I have but
muy poco conocimiento. little knowledge.
135. We sometimes see quien and cual used in the sense
Ex.
of some and others :
Quien se salvó &, nado, quien en Some saved themselves by swimlanchas.
ming. others in boats.
Peleaban cual con cuchillos, cual Some fought with knives, others
con espadas.
with swords.
136. Cual, in exclamatory sentences, means how, or in
what a state, or condition : Ex.
¡Cual le hallé ! How wretched, or in what a wretched state I
found him.
137. Que is common to both numbers and genders, and is
applied to persons and things : Ex.
El hombre que vino. The man loho (or that) came.
Las mugeres que vimos. The ivomen whom {that or which)
we saw.
Las cosas á que Vmd. se refiere. The things to which you allude.
138. Note.—The second example might be also thus
expressed, Las mugeres á quienes vimos ; but is preferable,
when whom is not preceded by a Preposition, to translate it
que.
139. When who is repeated in a sentence, it may be
translated either que, or el cual : Ex.
El hombre que partió ayer, y que The man who started yesterday,
or el cual fué asesinado. and who was murdered.