Relative pronouns are so called because they act as a reference, i.e. they relate
two sentences (a primary and a subordinate one) by linking them in one single period.
For instance, the boy who came here is your brother
links together the boy is your brother (primary sentence) and he came here
(subordinate sentence, because it connects to the former one by means of who).


In a relative clause different relations are possible between the primary sentence and the
subordinate one. They may share either the subject, or the object, or other
parts of the sentence.

This first paragraph will focus relative pronouns used as a subject and as an object, whose
possible combinations are summarized in the following table:

• A shows the case in which both sentences share the same noun as a subject:
  
  

  Paul left for Paris

  +

  he (Paul) bought a suitcase

  = Paul, who bought a suitcase, left for Paris

  
  
  
• B shows the case in which the primary sentence's object is
  the subject of the subordinate sentence:
  
  

  I miss Paul

  +

  he (Paul) left for Paris

  = I miss Paul, who left for Paris

  
  
  
• C shows the case in which the subject of the primary sentence
  becomes the object of the subordinate one:
  
  

  Paul left for Paris

  +

  you had met him (Paul)

  = Paul, whom you had met, left for Paris

  
  
  
• D shows the case in which both sentences share the same direct
  object:
  
  

  I miss Paul

  +

  you had met him (Paul)

  = I miss Paul, whom you had met

Each of these cases will be discussed throughoutly, referring to them with letters (A,B,C,D)
as in the table above. Note that relative pronouns are referred to as a subject or as an
object according to which is their position in the subordinate sentence (not in the primary one).



RELATIVE PRONOUNS AS A SUBJECT

(cases A and B )

As already seen in the previous examples, they are pronouns that bind two sentences
(a primary and a subordinate one) that share the same subject into one single period.


English pronouns used as a subject are who (whose use is normally limited to humans) and
that (for a more general purpose).


Italian relative pronouns exist in two forms: a full length form, and a short one:

FULL FORM

---

masculine il quale(singular) i quali(plural) who / that

feminine la quale(singular) le quali(plural) who / that

SHORT FORM

---

che
who / that
(masculine/feminine, singular/plural)


Full relative pronouns contain a definite article,
which has to match in gender and number the noun it refers to. For instance:

l'attore, il quale ha ricevuto un premio, lavorerà nel prossimo film = the actor, who received an award, will work in the next movie
molte donne, le quali attendevano pazientemente, formavano una coda = many women, who were patiently waiting, formed a queue

Notice how il quale is masculin singular (referred to attore), while le quali
is feminine plural (referred to donne).



In modern Italian, in both spoken and written language, all the aforesaid pronouns are
often turned into the short pronoun che (number- and gender-insensitive):

l'attore che ha ricevuto un premio lavorerà nel prossimo film = the actor who received an award will work in the next movie
molte donne che attendevano pazientemente formavano una coda = many women who were patiently waiting formed a queue

Any of the two is correct, and the choice of preferring one or the other is mainly a
matter of style (which a student may obviously disregard at this stage of learning).

However, a few further notes about this topic will be shortly discussed in
THE USE OF COMMAS WITH RELATIVE PRONOUNS.


In modern Italian it has become a common use to change the long form into the
short one in any case:

l'attore che ha ricevuto un premio lavorerà nel prossimo film
l'attore, che(= il quale) ha ricevuto un premio, lavorerà nel prossimo film

molte donne che attendevano pazientemente formavano una coda
molte donne, che(= le quali) attendevano pazientemente, formavano una coda

A stylistic reason to prefer che is to avoid repeating the same definite article,
since the noun very often already has one:

il pittore che dipinse questo quadro è un artista famoso = the painter who painted this picture is a famous artist
il pittore il quale dipinse questo quadro è un artista famoso = (same as above)

The second sentence would not sound too nice, because of the double article il.


Instead:

Caravaggio, che dipinse questo quadro, è un artista famoso = Caravaggio, who painted this picture, is a famous artist
Caravaggio, il quale dipinse questo quadro, è un artista famoso = (same as above)

Here the second sentence is perfectly acceptable, and it even sounds better than the first one,
although both of them are correct.

Students can do well enough by using che in all sentences that match
case A.

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Now let's see what happens in case B (i.e. when the primary sentence's object is the
subject of the secondary sentence):

Marco ha spedito la lettera a Paolo, il quale la ricevette ieri = Mark mailed the letter to Paul, who received it yesterday
Marco ha spedito la lettera a Paolo, che la ricevette ieri = (same as above)

il ragazzo vide le rondini, le quali volavano basse = the boy saw the swallows, which were flying low
il ragazzo vide le rondini che volavano basse = (same as above)

Either a long or a short pronoun may be used, and both of them are correct.

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THE USE OF COMMAS WITH RELATIVE PRONOUNS

In choosing a relative pronoun (either full form or short form), the student should notice
that che very often provides two slightly different meanings.


For instance, focus the following sentences, already mentioned among the previous examples:

il pittore che dipinse questo quadro è un artista famoso = the painter who painted this picture is a famous artist
il ragazzo vide le rondini che volavano basse = the boy saw the swallows that were flying low

This seems to suggest that the painter whose picture we are looking at is famous (but other painters
might not be famous), and that the boy saw the swallows that were flying low (but not those
ones that were flying high).

In this case no comma should be placed before the relative pronoun.


Instead:

il pittore, il quale dipinse questo quadro, è un artista famoso = the painter, who painted this picture, is a famous artist
il pittore, che dipinse questo quadro, è un artista famoso = (same as above)
il ragazzo vide le rondini, le quali volavano basse = the boy saw the swallows, which were flying low
il ragazzo vide le rondini, che volavano basse = (same as above)

This seems to suggest that the artist, whom we were already speaking of, is famous: the
fact that he is also the author of the painting is almost an extra piece of information. In the same way,
the boy saw all the swallows, and the fact that they were flying low is an additonal
detail.


Here is another example:

l'attore che ha ricevuto un premio lavorerà nel prossimo film = the actor who received an award will work in the next movie
l'attore, il quale ha ricevuto un premio, lavorerà nel prossimo film = the actor, who received an award, will work in the next movie

molte donne che attendevano pazientemente formavano una coda = many women who were patiently waiting formed a queue
molte donne, le quali attendevano pazientemente, formavano una coda = many women, who were patiently waiting, formed a queue

Notice how using the short pronoun che, the actor who received an award and the women who were waiting
are almost as a single block, i.e. these senteces describe what the actor who received an
award will do, or what the women who formed a queue were doing. We may think
that only the actor who received an award will work in the next movie (not those who have not
been awarded), or that the many women who were patiently waiting lined up in a queue (but some
others did not).


In the second example, the primary sentences (the actor will work in the next movie,
and many women formed a queue) are almost detached from the subordinate sentences
(the actor received an award, and the women were patiently waiting) by the use
of a full relative pronoun (il quale, le quali), and the two commas make this division even more definite:
the actor will work in the next movie  //  he received an award;
many women formed a queue  //  they were patiently waiting.
So this informs us that the actor will work in the next movie anyway (the fact of winning an award is an additional
piece of information), and that all the many women were queuing (the fact of patiently waiting is
another extra piece of information).


To summarize this, we may say that a full pronoun (il quale, la quale, etc.) detaches
the primary sentence from the subordinate one more than che does. But to obtain
the same effect, the full form may still be replaced by the short one, provided that a
comma is placed before the relative pronoun (in the written language); this also sounds
more colloquial in the spoken language.



In some cases there is but one possible interpretation, either using the full form or the
short one:

Marco ha spedito la lettera a Paolo, il quale la ricevette ieri = Mark mailed the letter to Paul, who received it yesterday
Marco ha spedito la lettera a Paolo che la ricevette ieri = (same as above)

In most cases, also the context of the sentence helps to make clear which is the actual meaning.

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RELATIVE PRONOUNS AS AN OBJECT

(cases C and D )


The following examples will focus again the difference between relative pronouns used as
a subject and as an object:

the thief who broke in stole the jewels the thief that the police caught had stolen the jewels

the train reached the station that had two platforms the train reached the station that you had mentioned

Now let's split the primary and subordinate sentences into two separate periods;
to do so is a very useful excercise for focusing which part is shared by both sentences:

A C		the thief stole the jewels the thief broke in the thief had stolen the jewels the police caught the thief		B D		the train reached the station the station had two platforms the train reached the station you had mentioned the station

Notice the relations between the primary sentence and the subordinate one, that
always share one noun. By dividing a period containing a relative clause in its
basic parts, it will be very easy for the student to tell whether the pronoun acts as a
subject or as an object.

In the aforesaid examples, C and D are the sentences in which the pronoun
acts as a direct object of the subordinate sentence.

In these cases, English uses either whom (for humans) or that, and
often the pronoun may even be omitted.


Italian, instead, always uses the pronoun che.

la chiave che il portiere custodisce apre la porta della mia casa = the key that the warden keeps opens the door of my house
l'amico che incontrerò oggi insegna matematica = the friend (whom) I will meet today teaches maths
i cespugli che ho potato crescono velocemente = the bushes (that) I pruned grow fast

The pronoun che has to be always used, because it cannot be omitted as
in English.

---

Case D is when both the primary and the subordinate sentences share a common object.

ho comprato questo libro che tu hai già letto = I bought this book that you have already read
incontrammo la signora che tua madre aveva aiutato = we met the lady (whom) your mother had helped
ha ricevuto le lettere che gli hanno spedito = he / she received the letters (that) they had sent to him / her

Once again, che acts as a universal pronoun.

---

Briefly summarizing the four cases discussed so far, che is very handy
in all cases: it is always used as an object, while as a subject it may replace
the full forms (il quale, la quale, etc.), which are used more sparingly.

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RELATIVE PRONOUNS REFERRED TO PERSONAL PRONOUNS

The last topic of this paragraph focuses a particular case.

As far as now, we discussed relative pronouns referred to nouns (i.e. the boy who
we met studies French, or we used the car that our friend
gave us, and so on.


There are sentences in which the relative pronoun refers to an indefinite person,
expressed by a personal pronoun. For instance: he who touches the fire will get burnt,
or I will give this book to those whom I see first.

In the first example, the subject of the primary sentence is the pronoun he (he will get burnt),
though not referring to anybody in particular, because until the fact takes place we cannot tell who he

is. In the second example the dative of the primary sentence is to them (I will
give the book to them), whom we do not know.

Another example is: those who drink should not drive. Once again, we don't know
who those actually are.

Quite obviously, similar sentences only refer to 3rd persons (either singular or plural);
when a 1st or 2nd persons are involved, the subject is always definite and throughoutly defined.


For similar sentences, Italian does not use the ordinary personal pronouns,
i.e. egli / lui, ella / lei, etc., but the following three,
which are specifically used for introducing a relative clause:

colui he / him

colei she / her

coloro they / them

They are never used alone, because a relative pronoun always follows them, so they always
form these compound expressions:

FULL FORM

---

masculine colui il quale or colui che coloro i quali or coloro che he who those who(masc.)

feminine colei la quale or colei che coloro le quali or coloro che she who those who(fem.)

SHORT FORM

---

chi
(he) who / (she) who / (those) who
(masculine/feminine, singular/plural)

We may think of these almost as "double pronouns", since they contain both a personal pronoun
and a relative pronoun (he who, she who, etc.). The personal pronoun may be either the
subject or the object (or any other case) of the primary sentence, but it is always indefinite
i.e. it refers to an unknown person:

chi beve alcol non può guidare = who drinks alcohol cannot drive

     alternatively:
colui il quale beve alcol non può guidare = he who drinks alcohol cannot drive
colui che beve alcol non può guidare = (same as above)
colei la quale beve alcol non può guidare = she who drinks alcohol cannot drive
colei che beve alcol non può guidare = (same as above)


     the individual sentences are:
qualcuno beve alcol (primary sentence) = somebody drinks alcol
egli / ella(qualcuno) non può guidare (secondary sentence) = he / she (somebody) cannot drive

ricompensai chi mi ha salvata = I rewarded who saved me

     alternatively:
ricompensai colui il quale mi ha salvata = I rewarded he who saved me
ricompensai colui che mi ha salvata = (same as above)
ricompensai colei la quale mi ha salvata = I rewarded she who saved me
ricompensai colei che mi ha salvata = (same as above)


     the individual sentences are:
ricompensai qualcuno (primary sentence) = I rewarded somebody
egli / ella(qualcuno) mi salvò (secondary sentence) = he / she (somebody) saved me

Notice how the long form (colui il quale, colei la quale, etc.) may be used also for
the direct object, whereas relative pronouns referred to nouns only use long forms (il quale, la quale, ecc.) for the subject, and only
the short form (che) in all other cases.


A few more examples (try splitting them into their primary and secondary sentences):

colui il quale ha detto queste cose è un bugiardo = he who said these things is a lier
colui che ha detto queste cose è un bugiardo = (same as above)
chi ha detto queste cose è un bugiardo = (he / those) who said these things is a lier

     (colui and chi are the subject)

sceglieranno colei la quale è vestita meglio = they will chose her whom is dressed better
sceglieranno colei che è vestita meglio = (same as above)
sceglieranno chi è vestita meglio = they will chose (her / those) whom is / are dressed better


     (colei and chi are the object)

coloro le quali hanno superato l'esame saranno assunte dalla compagnia = those (fem.) who passed the exam will be taken in by the company
coloro che hanno superato l'esame saranno assunte dalla compagnia = (same as above)
chi ha superato l'esame sarà assunta dalla compagnia = (she / those) who passed the exam will be taken in by the company

     (coloro and chi are the subject)

premiai coloro i quali risposero correttamente = I rewarded (those) whom answered correctly
premiai coloro che risposero correttamente = (same as above)
premiai chi rispose correttamente = I rewarded whom answered correctly


     (coloro and chi are the object)

mi ha indicato colei la quale sarà eletta presidentessa = he indicated me her who will be elected president
mi ha indicato colei che sarà eletta presidentessa = (same as above)
mi ha indicato chi sarà eletta presidentessa = he indicated me whom will be elected (female) president

     (colei and chi are the object)

chiameremo coloro le quali hanno finito il lavoro = we shall call those who finished the work
chiameremo coloro che hanno finito il lavoro = (same as above)
chiameremo chi ha finito il lavoro = we shall call whom finished the work


     (coloro and chi are the object)

Examining these examples, the first thing we notice is that the full relative pronoun
contains more information about the subject or the object of the sentence. In fact,
the short chi may refer either to one person (singular) or to more people (plural),
although it is always dealt with as a singular pronoun, thus it requires singular inflections
of the verb: in the third examples of both groups of sentences shown above, we find:

coloro le quali hanno superato l'esame saranno assunte
chi ha superato l'esame sarà assunta

chiameremo coloro che hanno finito il lavoro
chiameremo chi ha finito il lavoro

Therefore, chi always behaves as a singular pronoun, although it may refer
to more than one person.


The short pronoun chi may also refer to masculine and to feminine alike. But
the other parts of the sentence which are gender-sensitive (nouns, adjectives,
past participles, etc.) make clear whether chi refers to masculine or to feminine:

chi ha esperienza sarà il nuovo direttore = who is experienced will be the new director(masculine)
chi ha lavorato sarà pagata = who worked will be payed(feminine)

The student should become familiar with these forms before turning the page, because
in the following paragraphs they will be dealt with again, at a further stage.

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This article was used with permission from:
Teach Yourself Italian