{"id":239,"date":"2009-12-09T15:10:51","date_gmt":"2009-12-09T19:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=239"},"modified":"2009-12-09T15:10:51","modified_gmt":"2009-12-09T19:10:51","slug":"che-or-il-quale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/che-or-il-quale\/","title":{"rendered":"Che or Il Quale?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of readers have asked me recently to explain the difference between the pronomi relativi <\/strong>(relative pronouns) che <\/strong>and il quale \/ la quale <\/strong>(both meaning \u2018who\u2019, \u2018which\u2019, and \u2018that\u2019). Va bene, proviamoci!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Che<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the most common form of relative pronoun. It is invariabile <\/strong>(unchangeable), therefore it stays the same in the masculine, feminine, singular and plural form. It is used\u00a0to refer to\u00a0people (who, whom), and animals and objects (which or that). Here are some examples of how to use it: Ecco il libro che<\/span> mi hai prestato <\/strong>(here it\u2019s the book which<\/span> you lent me); quello \u00e8 il cane che<\/span> ha morso mio fratello <\/strong>(that is the dog that<\/span> bit my brother); quei tuoi amici che<\/span> ho conosciuto ieri sembrano molto simpatici <\/strong>(those friends of yours whom<\/span> I met yesterday seem very nice). <\/span><\/p>\n

The relative pronoun che<\/strong> is only used with the grammatical function of subject<\/em> or direct object<\/em>: il libro che<\/span> mi avevi prestato<\/strong> (\u2018che\u2019 is the direct object); il cane che<\/span> ha morso mio fratello <\/strong>(\u2018che\u2019 is the subject); amici che<\/span> ho conosciuto <\/strong>(\u2018che\u2019 is the direct object).<\/span><\/p>\n

However, when the relative pronoun che<\/strong> is preceded by a preposition (di, a, da, in, con, su, per, tra, fra<\/strong>) we use cui<\/strong>, which is also invariabile<\/strong>, e.g. Ecco il libro di cui<\/span> ti ho parlato<\/strong>, (here\u2019s the book that<\/span> I told you about), la citt\u00e0 in cui<\/span> abito \u00e8 molto pittoresca<\/strong> (the town in which<\/span> I live is very picturesque), il signore a cui<\/span> hai telefonato ieri ha richiamato stamattina <\/strong>(the man who<\/span> you phoned yesterday called back this morning). N.B. It is important to remember that<\/span> many verbs which don\u2019t use the preposition \u2018to\u2019 in English always use it in Italian. For example we say: telefonare a<\/span> qualcuno<\/strong> (literally: telephone to<\/span> someone), dire a<\/span> qualcuno<\/strong> (literally: tell to<\/span> someone). I will cover this topic soon in another article.<\/span><\/p>\n

When cui<\/strong> has the grammatical value of the genitive (complemento di specificazione<\/strong>) or, to put it more simply,\u00a0it is equivalent to the English \u2018whose\u2019, it is used without a preposition, and is preceded instead by the definite article (il, la, i, le<\/strong>). E.g. Ho conosciuto una signora il cui<\/span> marito lavora in Francia <\/strong>(I met a lady whose<\/span> husband works in France); il Signor Rossi, la cui<\/span> casa \u00e8 di fronte al cinema, ha avuto un incidente <\/strong>(Mr Rossi, whose house is opposite the cinema, has had an accident).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Il quale<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This type of relative pronoun is variabile <\/strong>(changeable), and is always<\/em> preceded by the definite article, which indicates the gender and the number of the pronoun: il quale <\/strong>(masculine sing.), la quale <\/strong>(feminine sing.), i quali <\/strong>(masculine plur.), le quali <\/strong>(feminine plur.). This should not be confused with the interrogative adjective\/pronoun <\/em>qual?, quale?, quali? <\/strong>(which \u2026 ?) that is used without the article. The relative pronoun il quale<\/strong> can be used in any situation instead of che<\/strong>, e.g. quello \u00e8 il cane che<\/span> ha morso mio fratello <\/strong>or quello \u00e8 il cane\u00a0il quale<\/span>\u00a0ha morso mio fratello\u00a0<\/strong>(that is the dog that<\/span> bit my brother).\u00a0\u00a0When it is preceded by a preposition it can be used\u00a0instead of cui<\/strong>, e.g. il signore a cui<\/span> hai telefonato ieri <\/strong>or il signore al quale<\/span>\u00a0hai telefonato ieri<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0(the man who<\/span> you phoned yesterday), but i<\/strong>l quale<\/strong>, la quale <\/strong><\/span>is more formal and is used mainly in written rather than spoken Italian.<\/span><\/p>\n

Il quale<\/strong>, la quale <\/strong>etc.\u00a0may, however,\u00a0be\u00a0preferable to che<\/strong> or cui<\/strong> when there is a risk of confusion\u00a0about who, or what the sentence is referring to. For example, the sentence Stamattina ho incontrato il figlio di Giovanna che abita a Milano <\/strong>could mean either \u2018This morning I met Giovanna\u2019s son who lives in Milano\u2019 or\u00a0<\/strong>\u2018This morning I met the\u00a0son of\u00a0Giovanna, who lives in Milano\u2019, meaning that it is Giovanna who lives in Milano. In other words che<\/strong> can refer to either \u2018il figlio\u2019 or Giovanna. If, on the other hand, I say: ho incontrato il figlio di Giovanna il quale<\/span> abita a Milano<\/strong> I make clear that it\u2019s \u2018il figlio\u2019 who lives in Milano, whilst if I change the article preceding quale<\/strong> from\u00a0il<\/strong> to la<\/strong>\u00a0and say: ho incontrato il figlio di Giovanna la quale<\/span>\u00a0 abita a Milano<\/strong> it\u2019s clear that it\u2019s Giovanna who lives in Milano. However,\u00a0in colloquial Italian we\u00a0prefer to use \u2018quello\/quella\/quelli\/quelle\u00a0che\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0(literally \u2018that one\/those ones\u00a0who\u2019) instead of il quale<\/strong> or la quale<\/strong>, for example: questa mattina ho incontrato il figlio di Giovanna, quello che<\/span> abita a Milano<\/strong> or, if I\u2019m referring to Giovanna, \u2018quella che abita a Milano\u2019<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Un saluto a tutti quelli che mi hanno seguito fino a qui!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of readers have asked me recently to explain the difference between the pronomi relativi (relative pronouns) che and il quale \/ la quale (both meaning \u2018who\u2019, \u2018which\u2019, and \u2018that\u2019). Va bene, proviamoci! Che This is the most common form of relative pronoun. It is invariabile (unchangeable), therefore it stays the same in the…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[41,676,717,748,773,851],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-che","tag-cui","tag-il-quale","tag-italian-relative-pronouns","tag-la-quale","tag-pronomi-relativi"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}