donde - the relative clause about a place
Besides que and el que there are two relative words of their own. donde attaches a relative clause to a word for a place: a city, a house, a room. It means “where / in which” already and never changes shape.
Two sentences become one
English can say the city where I was born, the city I was born in or the city in which I was born. Spanish keeps one word at the front and nothing at the back: la ciudad donde nací, never la ciudad que nací en.
Places in a relative clause
La ciudad donde nací tiene tres mil habitantes.
The city where I was born has three thousand inhabitants.
El piso donde vivía antes era más ruidoso.
The flat I used to live in was noisier.
No encuentro la carpeta donde guardo las facturas.
I cannot find the folder I keep the invoices in.
When the clause is about moving towards the place, away from it or along it, a preposition goes in front of donde. English puts it at the end (the beach we are going to), so move it to the front.
The donde family
| Form | Meaning |
|---|---|
| donde | where (place) |
| adonde / a donde | where … to (direction) |
| de donde | where … from (origin) |
| por donde | along which (route) |
El restaurante adonde vamos está en la plaza.
The restaurant we are going to is on the square.
El pueblo de donde viene mi madre está en Galicia.
The village my mother comes from is in Galicia.
Where donde does not belong
English stretches where beyond real places: a situation where I could say nothing, a case where nobody wins. Spanish does not follow: donde stays with physical places. For time and abstract nouns use a preposition + que or el que; English when is the clue for time.
El día en que nos conocimos fue un lunes.
The day we met was a Monday.
not el día donde
La situación en la que estoy es difícil.
The situation I am in is difficult.
not la situación donde
cuyo - the relative clause about an owner
cuyo is the equivalent of whose and goes directly in front of the thing owned, with no article: cuyo hijo, not cuyo el hijo. It belongs more to written Spanish. You cannot replace it with que su: el autor que su libro leí is wrong.
Two sentences become one
Ownership in a relative clause
La mujer cuyo hijo estudia aquí es mi vecina.
The woman whose son studies here is my neighbour.
El hombre cuya hija trabaja conmigo es mi vecino.
The man whose daughter works with me is my neighbour.
Los vecinos cuyos hijos juegan fuera son simpáticos.
The neighbours whose children play outside are nice.
La empresa cuyas oficinas visitamos es enorme.
The company whose offices we visited is huge.
A preposition goes before cuyo, and the whole group moves to the front: nothing is left dangling at the end.
El autor de cuyo libro hablamos ayer viene mañana.
The author whose book we talked about yesterday is coming tomorrow.
La casa en cuyo jardín jugábamos ya no existe.
The house in whose garden we used to play no longer exists.
