▷ Difference between which and what | Actualizado junio 2025

El cual and el que

As with other words with interrogative value, qué can be nounified by prefixing it with a determiner (9). It then maintains its orthographic accent. As shown in example (10), some of the sequences with prepositions also admit this change of category:

There is a use of the unstressed que in which many people stumble when writing: it often appears heading an interrogative or exclamatory statement without itself being either the one or the other. This is what happens in (13) and (14):

It is very frequent that here a tilde slips in unduly. In the case of interrogative sentences, at least, we can use a trick that can get us out of trouble. If the question can be answered with a yes or a no, then the que in question does not have a tilde:

Sometimes we will come across pairs of sentences which, although syntactically very different, are apparently the same and in which the presence or absence of tilde can give rise to contrasts in meaning:

What or what examples

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The reason is that quien cannot be used as a relative pronoun to begin a subordinate clause of this kind. If there is a noun or noun phrase (such as the author or the man) then who can only be used to introduce an explanatory subordinate clause. This type of phrase is pronounced with a pause in speech, and in writing it is separated with commas:

What indicates that a subordinate phrase is explanatory is that you can delete it (remove it entirely) and what remains still means the same thing, minus the clarification, explanation, or detail you were introducing with the subordinate:

In this case, the phrase he just arrived from France is not a detail you can delete, but what communicates to the listener which author you are referring to: he is the one who just arrived from France and not just any other author. It’s a defining detail, just as if you were to say the author of Game of Thrones or the world’s best-selling author.

In which or in which

For example, “El dinero del que dispone el banco” and “El dinero de que dispone el banco”. The former sounds more common to me, although the latter sounds more correct or formal, but both have the same meaning.

Both forms (known as “relative prepositional groups”) are correct. The question can be extended to other prepositions (to, with, in, at, by) and is limited to cases where (see that I have just used the two possible forms in question) the referent is not personal, since if this is the case all forms are equally common:

There is — it seems to me — some resistance to using the structure “preposition + que” because the relative defines the indefinite noun, and “que” would seem to strip it of that definition. Let’s see with examples:

“Malinche was born in a small town near Coazacualco, where Aztec and Mayan languages were spoken”; “”El brillo del diablo”, of which Angustias had spoken to me, appeared impoverished.

What or which exercises

Por qué is the union of the preposition por and the interrogative or exclamatory qué.it is used in interrogative and exclamatory sentences:¿Por qué has hecho esto?por qué no viniste ayer a verme?it is used in both direct and indirect interrogatives:No se por qué has hecho estono entiendo por qué no viniste ayer a verme.

Because is a conjunction, it is used in two types of sentences:To express Cause:In these cases it can be substituted by and that or sinceIt is also used as a final conjunction, of purposeIt can be substituted by so that.**In these cases it is also allowed to write por que separately, although the junto is preferred.

Por que is the sequence of the preposition por and the relative pronoun que.it is not used much, since it is usually used with the article in the middle of por and que: por el que, por la que, por los que, por las que.although the article can be omitted and used por queAlthough both are valid it sounds better with the article.