{"id":69962,"date":"2018-08-01T23:47:06","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T03:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/italian-relative-pronouns\/"},"modified":"2025-01-01T06:31:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T11:31:52","slug":"italian-relative-pronouns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/italian\/italian-relative-pronouns\/","title":{"rendered":"The 12 Most Common Italian Relative Pronouns"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you want to string together thoughts more complex than “ti amo,”<\/em><\/a> you often need relative pronouns\u2014like the bolded word in Raffaella \u00e8 la ragazza che<\/strong> mi ha spezzato il cuore<\/em>. (Raffaella is the girl who<\/strong> broke my heart.)<\/p>\n

Like their English counterparts who<\/em>, which<\/em>, to whom<\/em> and that<\/em>, Italian relative pronouns introduce the relative clause and give more information<\/strong> on the thing (or Italian bombshell) being talked about.<\/p>\n

Let’s go over some relative pronouns in Italian.<\/p>\n

Please note that I’m only going to cover the most common and most challenging relative pronouns for intermediate learners, so the post assumes that you’re past the basics and have a good understanding of Italian pronouns<\/a>, Italian articles and their relationship with gender and number<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. Che<\/em><\/h2>\n

I consider che <\/em>the hero of Italian relative pronouns simply because it’s the most flexible.<\/strong> It can be both a subject and an object, as well as a person and a thing.<\/p>\n

Che<\/em> can also be used for any gender and number and doesn’t change its form depending on the context\u2014which is unfortunately not the case for some other relative pronouns, but we’ll get to those in a bit.<\/p>\n

For now, here’s che<\/em> as an object and a subject:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t
Che<\/em> as an Object<\/th>Che<\/em> as a Subject<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Quello \u00e8 il treno che<\/strong> ho preso ieri. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> Quello \u00e8 il treno che<\/strong> va a Roma. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
That is the train<\/strong> that I took yesterday. (Che<\/em> is the object of ho preso <\/a>\n <\/em> or \"I took.\")<\/td>That is the train that<\/strong> goes to Rome. (Che<\/em> is the subject for the verb va <\/a>\n <\/em> or \"goes.\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Jack-of-all-trades\u00a0che<\/em> can also refer to people, as we saw in the introductory example. Here’s another one with my muse Raffaella:<\/p>\n

Ma \u00e8 Raffaella che<\/strong> amo<\/em>.
\nBut it’s Raffaella whom<\/strong> I love.<\/p>\n

2. Cui<\/em><\/h2>\n

Cui <\/em>is essentially another form of che <\/em>when the latter follows certain prepositions. These prepositions are altered according to the verb in the relative clause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Italian Preposition<\/th>Example Sentence<\/th>English Translation<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
a <\/a>\n <\/em> (to)<\/td> La donna a cui<\/strong> ho regalato la rosa <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The woman to whom<\/strong> I gave a flower<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00c8 il ragazzo a cui<\/strong> ho dato il biglietto. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>He's the guy to whom<\/strong> I gave the ticket.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
in <\/a>\n <\/em> (in)<\/td> Il Paese in cui<\/strong> vivo <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The country in which<\/strong> I live<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
La dea in cui<\/strong> credo \u00e8 vendicativa! <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The goddess in whom<\/strong> I believe is vindictive! (You can also translate this as \"The goddess I believe in is vindictive!\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
con <\/a>\n <\/em> (with)<\/td> I musicisti con cui<\/strong> suon <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The musicians with whom<\/strong> I play<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sono i clienti con cui<\/strong> parlo tutti i giorni. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>They are the clients with whom<\/strong> I speak every day.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
da <\/a>\n <\/em> (from; note that this is only one of many possible translations of da<\/em>)<\/td> Il macellaio da cui<\/strong> mi servo \u00e8 molto bravo. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The butcher whom<\/strong> I frequent is very good. (Literally, \"from which<\/strong> I serve myself\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
La montagna da cui<\/strong> scende il fiume \u00e8 spettacolare. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The mountain from which<\/strong> the river flows is spectacular.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
di <\/a>\n <\/em> (about)<\/td> \u00c8 il vicino di cui<\/strong> so sempre tutti i gossip. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>He is the neighbor about whom<\/strong> I always know all of the gossip.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sono i clienti di cui<\/strong> parlo tutti i giorni. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>They are the clients about whom<\/strong> I speak every day.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
per <\/a>\n <\/em> (for)<\/td> Il cliente per cui<\/strong> scrivo <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The client I write for (Literally, \"for whom<\/strong> I write\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
La donna per cui<\/strong> lavoro <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The woman I work for (Literally, \"for whom<\/strong> I work\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

3. Il Quale<\/em><\/h2>\n

Il quale<\/em> means the same thing as che<\/em> when used as a relative pronoun. However, there are fewer situations where it’s appropriate.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Specifically, it can only be the relative pronoun subject. You can think of il quale<\/em> as replacing the English “who” but not replacing the English “whom” when it’s a direct object.<\/p>\n

Here it is as a subject:<\/p>\n

Ho parlato con l’uomo il quale<\/strong> mi ha detto di aspettare. <\/em>
\nI talked to the man who<\/strong> told me to wait.<\/p>\n

Che <\/em>would be okay to use here, too. You could say:<\/p>\n

Ho parlato con l’uomo che<\/strong> mi ha detto di aspettare. <\/em>
\nI talked to the man who<\/strong> told me to wait.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, you cannot use il quale<\/em> when the referent is a direct object, so you must use che <\/em>instead:<\/em><\/p>\n

La donna che<\/strong> ho invitato a ballare <\/em>
\nThe woman whom<\/strong> I invited to dance<\/p>\n

Il quale<\/em> tends to sound better when you use it to talk about people rather than physical objects<\/strong>. For example, in the incorrect phrase quello \u00e8 il treno il quale<\/strong> va a Roma<\/em> (that is the train that<\/strong> goes to Rome), il quale <\/em>sounds a little bit off. It would better to use che<\/em> here.<\/p>\n

Also, il quale<\/em> changes according to the gender and number of the thing it refers to. <\/em>It can become la quale, i quali <\/em>or le quali<\/em>, for example.<\/p>\n

Sure, this aspect of il quale<\/em> complicates things, but it can also be quite useful for clarifying what or who exactly is being referred to.<\/p>\n

For instance:<\/p>\n

La madre del ragazzo, il quale<\/strong> prende il treno a Roma<\/em>
\nThe mother of the guy who<\/strong> is taking the train to Rome<\/p>\n

In the above example, we know that\u00a0il ragazzo<\/em> (the guy) himself is on the train.<\/p>\n

On the other hand:<\/p>\n

La madre del ragazzo, la quale<\/strong> prende il treno a Roma<\/em>
\nThe mother of the guy, who<\/strong> is taking the train to Rome<\/p>\n

In this second example, it’s la madre<\/em> (the mother) on the train.<\/p>\n

Neat trick, huh? The gender, il quale<\/em> or la quale,<\/em> tells you who you’re talking about in the second clause (the guy or the mother, respectively).<\/p>\n

If you were to use the word che<\/em> instead, that would still be technically correct, but there’s more ambiguity on who exactly is on that train, like in la madre del ragazzo che<\/strong> prende il treno a Roma,<\/em> where you have no idea whether it’s the mother or the guy who’s taking the train.<\/p>\n

Thus, in some instances, the gender\/number modified version of il quale<\/em> is preferable for clarity’s sake.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As an aside, English is less clear in similar cases than Italian, because the former doesn’t necessitate the modification of relative pronouns like “who” based on gender. So, as much as studying Italian grammatical gender makes you want to curse the high heavens, you have to admit that it makes what you say in Italian sound clearer than in English.<\/p>\n

Il Quale<\/em> and Prepositions<\/h4>\n

Like che<\/em>, il quale<\/em> can also come with prepositions, in which case the standard modifications apply according to the article, gender and number used with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Example Sentences of Il Quale<\/em> With Prepositions<\/th>English Translation<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\u00c8 il ragazzo al quale<\/strong> ho dato il biglietto. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>He's the guy to whom<\/strong> I gave the ticket.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
La donna alla quale<\/strong> ho regalato la rosa <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The woman to whom<\/strong> I gave the rose<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Le donne alle quali<\/strong> ho regalato le rose <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The women to whom<\/strong> I gave the roses<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Il Paese nel quale<\/strong> abito <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The country in which<\/strong> I live<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Il cliente per il quale<\/strong> scrivo <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The client I write for (Literally, \"for whom<\/strong> I write\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
La donna per la quale<\/strong> lavoro <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>The woman I work for\u00a0(Literally, \"for whom<\/strong> I work\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sono i clienti con i quali<\/strong> parlo tutti i giorni. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>They are the clients with whom<\/strong> I speak every day.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sono i clienti dei quali<\/strong> parlo tutti i giorni. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>They are the clients about whom<\/strong> I speak every day.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

4. Il Cui<\/em><\/h2>\n

When you want to tack on a description about a possession, as you would with the word “whose” in English, one of your options is il cui<\/em> (or its modified forms la cui<\/em>, i cui <\/em>and le cui<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Raffaella, il cui<\/strong> zaino \u00e8 molto bello, \u00e8 arrabbiata. <\/em>
\nRaffaella, whose<\/strong> backpack is very beautiful, is angry.<\/p>\n

5. Del Quale<\/em><\/h2>\n

Another way to say “whose” in Italian is del quale<\/em> (or della quale, dei quali<\/em> and delle quali<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Here’s an example:<\/p>\n

Raffaello, lo zaino del quale<\/strong> prendo in prestito, \u00e8 arrabbiato. <\/em>
\nRaffaello, whose<\/strong> backpack I’m borrowing, is angry.<\/p>\n

Notice that del quale<\/em> must come after the noun (zaino<\/em> or backpack\/rucksack) whereas il cui<\/em>\u00a0always comes before.<\/p>\n

You’ll also notice that del quale<\/em> (like il<\/em> quale<\/em>) can sometimes be clearer since it specifies the gender and number of the thing being referred to.<\/p>\n

6. Il Che<\/em><\/h2>\n

Generally, il che<\/em> is used to refer to a previous concept or action, rather than just a simple noun.<\/p>\n

Loro si sono lasciati, il che<\/strong> mi rende triste<\/em>.
\nThey broke up, which<\/strong> makes me sad.<\/p>\n

7. Ci\u00f2 Che \/ Quello Che
\n<\/em><\/h2>\n

Both ci\u00f2 che<\/em> and quello che<\/em> serve a similar function, and roughly mean “that which” in English. To the Italian ear, they don’t sound as awkward as their literal English translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t
Ci\u00f2 Che<\/em> in Action<\/th>Quello Che<\/em> in Action<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Non mi piace ci\u00f2 che<\/strong> fanno i brasiliani. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> Gli scioperi sono quello che<\/strong> causa pi\u00f9 problemi con i treni. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I don't like \"what\" or \"that which\"<\/strong> Brazilians do.<\/td>The strikes are \"what cause\" or \"that which causes\"<\/strong> more problems with the trains.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

8. Quanto<\/em><\/h2>\n

When the referent can be quantified, the word quanto <\/em>(how much) can be used instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t
Example Sentences With Quanto<\/em><\/th>English Translation<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Mi ha sorpreso quanto<\/strong> hai pagato per il biglietto. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>It surprised me how much<\/strong> you paid for the ticket.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Non mi ha sorpreso quanto<\/strong> abbiamo aspettato per il treno. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>It didn't surprise me how much<\/strong> we waited for the train.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

9. Tutto Ci\u00f2<\/em> Che<\/em> \/ Tutto Quello Che<\/em><\/h2>\n

Tutto quello che<\/em> and tutto ci\u00f2<\/em> che literally mean “all that which” and function a bit like “whatever,” “anything” or “everything.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t
Tutto Ci\u00f2 Che<\/em> in Action<\/th>Tutto Quello Che<\/em> in Action<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Posso prepararti qualcosa? <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(Can I cook something for you?)
\n
\n S\u00ed! Prepara tutto ci\u00f2 che<\/strong> vuoi, ma non cose piccanti. <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(Yes! Make whatever<\/strong> you want, but nothing spicy.)<\/td>		 Posso farti una domanda? <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(Can I ask you a question?)
\n
\n Chiedimi tutto quello che<\/strong> vuoi. <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(Ask me whatever<\/strong> you want.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

10. Tutti Quelli Che<\/em><\/h2>\n

To refer to a bunch of people, use tutti quelli che <\/em>(all those who).<\/p>\n

Tutti quelli che<\/strong> hanno problemi, mi chiamano<\/em>.
\nAll those who<\/strong> have problems call me.<\/p>\n

11. Chi<\/em><\/h2>\n

To refer to an everyman, anyone or “he who,” you can use chi<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Chi<\/strong> \u00e8 senza peccato scagli la prima pietra.<\/em>
\nMay he<\/strong> who<\/strong> is without sin cast the first stone.<\/p>\n

Chi<\/em> can also be used to mean “some people.” In this case, it’s coupled with a second phrase starting with\u00a0chi<\/em> to describe what “some others” were doing at the same time. For example, if someone asked you\u00a0Che faceva la gente ieri alla festa?<\/em> (What were people doing at the party yesterday?), you’d say:<\/p>\n

Chi <\/strong><\/em><\/strong>chiacchierava,<\/em> chi <\/strong><\/em><\/strong>ballava.<\/em>
\nSome<\/strong> were chatting, [while] others<\/strong> were dancing.<\/p>\n

12. Colui<\/em><\/h2>\n

Those who wish to sound a bit more pompous and literary may use\u00a0colui<\/em> instead of\u00a0chi\u00a0<\/em>to get the same meaning:<\/p>\n

Colui<\/strong> che \u00e8 senza peccato scagli la prima pietra<\/em>.
\nLet he who<\/strong> is without sin cast the first stone.<\/p>\n

Practicing Italian Relative Pronouns<\/h2>\n

Now that you’ve examined the undercarriage of Italian relative pronouns, it’s time to hop on yourself and go for a ride.<\/p>\n

What related phrases can you hook together about your<\/em> Raffaellas, mothers of friends on trains or butchers?<\/p>\n

Relating the grammar constructions to your own life will make them much more memorable and useful.<\/p>\n

Also, you can do many more carefully guided activities with native Italian videos<\/strong> using a language learning program like FluentU<\/a>.

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

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You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

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