Editing Relative clause (section)

===Indo-European languages===

====English====
{{main|English relative clauses}}
In English, a relative clause follows the noun it modifies. It is generally indicated by a relative pronoun at the start of the clause, although sometimes simply by word order. If the relative pronoun is the object of the verb in the relative clause, it comes at the beginning of the clause even though it would come at the end of an independent clause ("She is the woman ''whom'' I saw", not "She is the woman I saw ''whom''").

The choice of relative pronoun can be affected by whether the clause modifies a human or non-human noun, by whether the clause is restrictive or not,<ref>{{cite book |last=Kordić |first=Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |editor1-last=Suprun |editor1-first=Adam E |url-status=live |editor2-last=Jachnow |editor2-first=Helmut |title=Slavjano-germanskie jazykovye paralleli/Slawisch-germanische Sprachparallelen |series=Sovmestnyj issledovatel'skij sbornik slavistov universitetov v Minske i Bochume |publisher=Belorusskij gosudarstvennyj universitet |page=165 |language=de |chapter=Pronomina im Antezedenten und Restriktivität/Nicht-Restriktivität von Relativsätzen im Kroatoserbischen und Deutschen |trans-chapter=Pronouns in antecedents and restrictive / non-restrictive relative clauses in Serbo-Croatian and German |chapter-url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/426662.PRONOMINA_IM_ANTEZEDENT.PDF |location=Minsk |year=1996 |oclc=637166830 |ssrn=3434472 |id={{CROSBI|426662}} |archive-date=29 August 2012 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6AHPw0DET?url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/426662.PRONOMINA_IM_ANTEZEDENT.PDF |access-date=14 July 2019}}</ref> and by the role (subject, direct object, or the like) of the relative pronoun in the relative clause.

*For a human antecedent, "who", "whom", or "that" is usually used ("She is the person ''who'' saw me", "He is the person ''whom'' I saw", "He is the person ''that'' I saw"). For a non-human antecedent, only "that" or "which" is used.
*For a non-human antecedent in a non-restrictive clause, only "which" is used ("The tree, ''which'' fell, is over there"); while either "which" or "that" may be used in a restrictive clause ("The tree ''which'' fell is over there", "The tree ''that'' fell is over there"){{mdash}}but some styles and prescriptive grammars require the use of "that" in the restrictive context.
*Of the relative pronoun pair "who" and "whom", the ''subjective'' case form ("who") is used if it is the subject of the relative clause ("She is the police officer who saw me"); and, in formal usage, the ''objective'' case form ("whom") if it is the object of the verb or preposition in the relative clause ("She is the police officer whom I saw", "She is the police officer whom I talked to", "She is the officer to whom I talked"); but in informal usage "whom" is often replaced by "who".

In English, as in some other languages (such as French; see below), [[restrictiveness|non-restrictive]] relative clauses are set off with commas, but restrictive ones are not:

*"I met a woman and a man yesterday. The woman, ''who had a thick French accent'', was very tall." (non-restrictive—does not narrow down who is being talked about)
*"I met two women yesterday, one with a thick French accent and one with a mild Italian one. The woman ''who had the thick French accent'' was very tall." (restrictive—adds information about who is being referred to)

The status of "that" as a relative pronoun is not universally agreed. Traditional grammars treat "that" as a relative pronoun, but not all contemporary grammars do: e.g. the [[Cambridge Grammar of the English Language]] (pp.&nbsp;1056–7) makes a case for treating "that" as a subordinator instead of a relative pronoun; and the [[British National Corpus]] treats "that" as a subordinating conjunction even when it introduces relative clauses. One motivation for the different treatment of "that" is that there are differences between "that" and "which" (e.g., one can say "in which" but not "in that", etc.).

====French====
{{uncited section|date=June 2024}}
The system of relative pronouns in [[French language|French]] is as complicated as, and similar in many ways to, the system in English.

When the pronoun is to act as the direct object of the relative clause, ''{{lang|fr|que}}'' is generally used, although ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'', which is inflected for grammatical gender and number, is sometimes used in order to give more precision. For example, any of the following is correct and would translate to "I talked to his/her father and mother, whom I already knew":

:''{{lang|fr|J'ai parlé avec son père et sa mère, '''laquelle''' (f. sing.) je connaissais déjà.}}''
:''{{lang|fr|J'ai parlé avec son père et sa mère, '''lesquels''' (m. pl.) je connaissais déjà.}}''
:''{{lang|fr|J'ai parlé avec son père et sa mère, '''que''' je connaissais déjà.}}''

However, in the first sentence, "whom I already knew" refers only to the mother; in the second, it refers to both parents; and in the third, as in the English sentence, it could refer either only to the mother, or to both parents.

When the pronoun is to act as the subject of the relative clause, ''{{lang|fr|qui}}'' is generally used, though as before, ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'' may be used instead for greater precision. (This is less common than the use of ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'' with direct objects, however, since verbs in French often reflect the grammatical number of their subjects.)

Contrary to English, the relative pronoun can never be omitted in French, not even when the relative clause is embedded in another relative clause.
:Here is what I think '''Ø''' happened.
:''{{lang|fr|Voilà ce que je crois '''qui''' est arrivé.}}'' (literally: "Here is what I think '''that''' happened.")

When the pronoun is to act in a possessive sense, where the preposition ''de'' (of/from) would normally be used, the pronoun ''{{lang|fr|dont}}'' ("whose") is used, but does not act as a [[determiner (linguistics)|determiner]] for the noun "possessed":

:''{{lang|fr|J'ai parlé avec une femme '''dont''' le fils est mon collègue.}}'' ("I spoke with a woman whose son I work with." - ''lit.'', "I spoke with a woman ''of whom'' the son is my colleague.")

This construction is also used in non-possessive cases where the pronoun replaces an object marked by ''{{lang|fr|de}}'':

:''{{lang|fr|C'est l'homme '''dont''' j'ai parlé.}}'' ("That's the man '''of whom''' I spoke.")

More generally, in modern French, ''{{lang|fr|dont}}'' can signal the topic of the following clause, without replacing anything in this clause:

:''{{lang|fr|C'est un homme '''dont''' je crois qu'il doit très bien gagner sa vie.}}'' ("That's a man '''about whom''' I believe that he must make a lot of money.")

When the pronoun is to act as the object of a preposition (other than when ''{{lang|fr|dont}}'' is used), ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'' is generally used, though ''{{lang|fr|qui}}'' can be used if the antecedent is human.

:''{{lang|fr|Ce sont des gens '''sur lesquels''' on peut compter.}}'' ("These are people '''that''' can be depended '''on'''.") [literally: "'''on whom''' one can depend"]
:''{{lang|fr|Ce sont des gens '''sur qui''' on peut compter.}}''

:''{{lang|fr|C'est une table '''sur laquelle''' on peut mettre beaucoup de choses.}}'' ("This is a table '''on which''' you can put a lot of things".)
:<nowiki>*</nowiki>''C'est une table sur qui on peut mettre beaucoup de choses.''

There exists a further complication when the antecedent is a non-human indefinite pronoun. In that case, ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'' cannot be used because it must agree in gender with its head, and an indefinite pronoun has no gender. Instead, ''{{lang|fr|quoi}}'', which usually means "what", is used.
:''{{lang|fr|C'est manifestement <u>quelque chose</u> '''à quoi''' il a beaucoup réfléchi.}}'' ("This is obviously <u>something</u> '''that '''he has thought a lot '''about '''.")
:<nowiki>*</nowiki>''C'est manifestement quelque chose à laquelle il a beaucoup réfléchi.''

The same happens when the antecedent is an entire clause, also lacking gender.
:''{{lang|fr|Il m'a dit d'aller me faire voir, '''à quoi''' j'ai répondu que...}}'' ("He told me to get lost, '''to which''' I replied that ...")

The preposition always appears before the pronoun, and the prepositions ''{{lang|fr|de}}'' and ''{{lang|fr|à}}'' (at/to) contract with ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'' to form ''{{lang|fr|duquel}}'' and ''{{lang|fr|auquel}}'', or with ''{{lang|fr|lesquel(le)s}}'' to form ''{{lang|fr|desquel(le)s}}'' and ''{{lang|fr|auxquel(le)s}}''.

====German====
[[File:Intonation of German restrictive relative clauses.jpg|thumb|350px|right|[[Intonation (linguistics)|Intonation]] of [[German language|German]] [[#Restrictive and non-restrictive|restrictive relative clauses]]]]Aside from their highly inflected forms, [[German language|German]] relative pronouns are less complicated than English. There are two varieties. The more common one is based on the definite article ''der'', ''die'', ''das'', but with distinctive forms in the genitive (''dessen'', ''deren'') and in the dative plural (''denen''). Historically this is related to English ''that''. The second, which is more literary and used for emphasis, is the relative use of ''welcher'', ''welche'', ''welches'', comparable with English ''which''. As in most Germanic languages, including Old English, both of these varieties inflect according to gender, case and number. They take their gender and number from the noun which they modify, but the case from their function in their own clause.

:''Das Haus, in dem ich wohne, ist sehr alt.''
::The house in which I live is very old.

The relative pronoun ''dem'' is neuter singular to agree with ''Haus'', but dative because it follows a preposition in its own clause. On the same basis, it would be possible to substitute the pronoun ''welchem''.

However, German uses the uninflecting ''was'' ('what') as a relative pronoun when the antecedent is ''alles'', ''etwas'' or ''nichts'' ('everything', 'something', 'nothing').

:''Alles, was Jack macht, gelingt ihm.''
::Everything that Jack does is a success.

In German, all relative clauses are marked with commas.

Alternatively, particularly in formal registers, participles (both active and passive) can be used to embed relative clauses in adjectival phrases:

:''Die von ihm in jenem Stil gemalten Bilder sind sehr begehrt''
::The pictures he painted in that style are highly sought after
:''Die Regierung möchte diese im letzten Jahr eher langsam wachsende Industrie weiter fördern''
::The government would like to further promote this industry, which has grown rather slowly over the last year.

Unlike English, which only permits relatively small participle phrases in adjectival positions (typically just the participle and adverbs), and disallows the use of direct objects for active participles, German sentences of this sort can embed clauses of arbitrary complexity.

====Spanish====
{{Main|Spanish pronouns#Relative pronouns}}

====Latin====
In [[Latin]], relative clauses follow the noun phrases they modify, and are always introduced using relative pronouns. Relative pronouns, like other pronouns in Latin, agree with their antecedents in [[grammatical gender|gender]] and [[grammatical number|number]], but not in [[grammatical case|case]]: a relative pronoun's case reflects its role in the relative clause it introduces, while its antecedent's case reflects the antecedent's role in the clause that contains the relative clause. (Nonetheless, it is possible for the pronoun and antecedent to be in the same case.) For example:

:'''''Urbēs''', '''quae''' sunt magnae, videntur. (''The '''cities''', '''which''' are large, are being seen.'')
:'''''Urbēs''', '''quās''' vīdī, erant magnae.'' (''The '''cities''', '''which''' I saw, were large.'')

In the former example, ''urbēs'' and ''quae'' both function as [[subject (grammar)|subjects]] in their respective clauses, so both are in the nominative case; and due to gender and [[number agreement]], both are feminine and plural. In the latter example, both are still feminine and plural, and ''urbēs'' is still in the nominative case, but ''quae'' has been replaced by ''quās'', its accusative-case counterpart, to reflect its role as the [[direct object]] of ''vīdī''.

For more information on the forms of Latin relative pronouns, ''see'' [[Latin declension#Relative pronouns|the section on relative pronouns in the article on Latin declension]].

====Ancient Greek====
[[Ancient Greek]] follows (almost) the same rules as Latin.

{{fs interlinear|lang=grc|indent=3
|αἱ '''πόλεις''', '''ἃς''' εἶδον, μεγάλαι εἰσίν.
|hai '''póleis''', '''hàs''' eîdon, megálai eisin.
|The '''cities''', '''which''' I saw are large.}}

However, there is a phenomenon in Ancient Greek called ''case attraction'', where the case of the relative pronoun can be "attracted" to the case of its antecedent.

{{fs interlinear|lang=grc|indent=3
|ἄξιοι τῆς '''ἐλευθερίας''' '''ἧς''' κέκτησθε 
|áxioi tês '''eleutheríās''' '''hês''' kéktēsthe
|Worthy '''of the freedom''' ({{lit|of which}}) you have obtained. {{=}} Worthy of the freedom which you have obtained.}}

In this example, although the relative pronoun should be in the accusative case, as the object of "obtain", it is attracted to the genitive case of its antecedent ("of the freedom...").

The Ancient Greek relative pronoun ὅς, ἥ, ὅ (''hós, hē&#769;, hó'') is unrelated to the Latin word, since it derives from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] {{PIE|*yos}}: in [[Proto-Greek language|Proto-Greek]], ''y'' before a vowel usually changed to ''h'' ([[debuccalization]]). [[Cognate]]s include [[Sanskrit]] relative pronouns ''yas, yā, yad'' (where ''o'' changed to short ''a'').<ref>{{LSJ|o(/s1|ὅς|ref}}</ref>

The Greek definite article ὁ, ἡ, τό (''ho, hē, tó'') has a different origin, since it is related to the Sanskrit demonstrative ''sa, sā'' and [[Latin]] ''is-tud''.<ref>{{LSJ|o(1|ὁ|shortref}}</ref>

Information that in English would be encoded with relative clauses could be represented with complex participles in Ancient Greek. This was made particularly expressive by the rich suite of participles available, with active and passive participles in present, past and future tenses. This is called [[Participle (Ancient Greek)#The attributive participle|the attributive participle]].

====Serbo-Croatian====
[[Serbo-Croatian]] uses exactly the same principle as Latin does.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gallis |first=Arne |year=1956 |title=The syntax of relative clauses in Serbo-Croatian: Viewed on a historical basis |location=Oslo |publisher=I Kommisjon Hos H. Aschehoug |page=186 |oclc=601586}}</ref> The following sentences are the Latin examples translated to Serbo-Croatian (the same sentences apply to the Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin standard variants of the [[pluricentric language]]):

{{interlinear|indent=3
| Gradovi, '''koji''' su veliki, vide se.
| {the cities:NOM.M.PL} which:NOM.M.PL are:PR.3.PL large:NOM.M.PL see:PR.3.PL itself:REFL
| "The cities, which are large, are being seen."}}

{{interlinear|indent=3
| Gradovi, '''koje''' sam vidio, bili su veliki.
| {the cities:NOM.M.PL} which:ACC.M.PL {I am:AUX.1.SG} saw:AP.M.SG were:AP.M.PL are:AUX.3.PL large:NOM.M.PL
| "The cities, which I saw, were large."}}

[[File:Frequency of relativizers.jpg|thumb|290px|right|[[Frequency (statistics)|Frequency]] of [[relativizer]]s in [[Serbo-Croatian]]]]In the first sentence, ''koji'' is in the [[nominative]], and in the second ''koje'' is in the [[accusative]]. Both words are two case forms of the same [[relative pronoun]], that is inflicted for [[Grammatical gender|gender]] (here: masculine), [[Grammatical number|number]] (here: plural), and [[Grammatical case|case]].

An alternative relativizing strategy is the use of the non-declinable word ''što'' 'that' to introduce a relative clause.<ref name=KordiGerm>{{cite book|last=Kordić |first=Snježana| author-link=Snježana Kordić |year=1999 |language=de |title=Der Relativsatz im Serbokroatischen|trans-title=Relative Clauses in Serbo-Croatian |series=Studies in Slavic Linguistics; vol. 10 |location=Munich |publisher=Lincom Europa |page=330 |isbn=3-89586-573-7 |oclc=42422661 |ol=2863535W |id={{CROSBI|426502}}}} [http://d-nb.info/956417647/04 Contents]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240506233419/http://www.snjezana-kordic.de/Summary_Der_Relativ.pdf Summary].</ref> This word is used together with a [[resumptive pronoun]], i.e. a [[personal pronoun]] that agrees in gender and number with the [[antecedent (grammar)|antecedent]], while its case form depends on its function in the relative clause.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Auwera, Johan van der |author2= Kučanda, Dubravko |title=Pronoun or conjunction - the Serbo-Croatian invariant relativizer ''što'' |journal=Linguistics |volume=23 |issue=6 |pages=917–962 |year=1985 |issn=0024-3949}}</ref> The resumptive pronoun never appears in subject function.

{{interlinear|indent=3
| Onaj poznanik '''što''' si '''ga''' pozdravio...
| that:NOM.M.SG acquaintance:NOM.M.SG that be:AUX.2.SG him:ACC greet:AP.M.SG
| "That acquaintance that (whom) you have said 'hello' to..."}}

Relative clauses are relatively frequent in modern Serbo-Croatian<ref name=KordiGerm/> since they have expanded as attributes at the expense of the [[participle]]s performing that function.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kordić |first=Snježana| author-link=Snježana Kordić |year=1997 |title=Serbo-Croatian |series=Languages of the World/Materials; vol. 148 |location=Munich & Newcastle |publisher=Lincom Europa | pages=57–60 |isbn=3-89586-161-8 |oclc=37959860 |ol=2863538W |id={{CROSBI|426503}}}} [http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/exlibris/aleph/a21_1/apache_media/I2FGYMHULBDSMDXPPEFDGV9ELUGDN2.pdf Contents]</ref> The most frequently used relative pronoun is ''koji''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Maček |first=Dora|year=1986|title=Relativization in English and Serbo-Croatian |series=The Yugoslav Serbo-Croatian - English contrastive project, New studies; vol. 3 |location=Zagreb | publisher=Institute of Linguistics, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb |page=91 |oclc=14710495}}</ref> There are several ongoing changes concerning ''koji''. One of them is the spread of the genitive-accusative [[Syncretism (linguistics)|syncretism]] to the masculine inanimate of the pronoun.<ref>{{cite book|last=Browne |first=Wayles| author-link=Wayles Browne |year=1986 |title=Relative clauses in Serbo-Croatian in comparison with English |series=The Yugoslav Serbo-Croatian - English contrastive project, New studies; vol. 4 |location=Zagreb | publisher=Institute of Linguistics, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb |page=165 |oclc=14368553}}</ref> The cause lies in the necessity to disambiguate the [[Subject (grammar)|subject]] and the [[Object (grammar)|object]] by [[Grammatical case|morphological]] means. The nominative-accusative syncretism of the form ''koji'' is inadequate, so the genitive form ''kojeg'' is preferred:<ref>{{cite book |last=Kordić |first=Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |year=1995 |language=sh |title=Relativna rečenica |trans-title=Relative Clauses |url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/426507.Kordic_Relativna_recenica.pdf |url-status=live |series=Znanstvena biblioteka Hrvatskog filološkog društva; vol. 25 |location=Zagreb |publisher=Matica hrvatska & Hrvatsko filološko društvo |pages=113–128 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.3460911 |isbn=953-6050-04-8 |oclc=37606491 |lccn=97154457 |ol=2863536W |id={{CROSBI|426507}} |archive-date=4 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604231658/http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/426507.Kordic_Relativna_recenica.pdf |access-date=1 August 2019 }}</ref>

{{interlinear|indent=3
|top= '''Nominative-accusative syncretism:'''
| Auto '''koji''' je udario autobus
| car:NOM/ACC.M.SG which:NOM/ACC.M.SG be:AUX.3.SG hit:AP.M.SG bus:NOM/ACC.M.SG
|}}

{{interlinear|indent=3
|top= '''Genitive-accusative syncretism:'''
| Auto '''kojeg''' je udario autobus
| car:NOM/ACC.M.SG which:ACC/GEN.M.SG be:AUX.3.SG hit:AP.M.SG bus:NOM/ACC.M.SG
| "Car hit by bus"}}

====Celtic languages====
{{See also|Irish syntax#Relative clauses|Welsh syntax#Relative clauses}}
The [[Celtic languages]] (at least the modern [[Insular Celtic languages]]) distinguish two types of relative clause: direct relative clauses and indirect relative clauses. A direct relative clause is used where the relativized element is the subject or the direct object of its clause (e.g. "the man ''who'' saw me", "the man ''whom'' I saw"), while an indirect relative clause is used where the relativized element is a genitival (e.g. "the man ''whose'' daughter is in the hospital") or is the object of a preposition (e.g. "the man ''to whom'' I gave the book"). Direct relative clauses are formed with a [[relative pronoun]] (unmarked for case) at the beginning; a gap (in terms of syntactic theory, a [[trace (linguistics)|trace]], indicated by (''t)'' in the examples below) is left in the relative clause at the pronoun's expected position.

;Irish
{{interlinear|indent=3|abbreviations=DIR:direct
| an fear a chonaic (t) mé
| the man DIR-REL saw {} me
| "the man who saw me"}}

;Welsh
{{interlinear|indent=3|abbreviations=DIR:direct
| y dyn a welais
| the man DIR-REL {I saw}
| "the man whom I saw"}}

The direct relative particle "a" is not used with "mae" ("is") in Welsh; instead the form "sydd" or "sy'" is used:

{{interlinear|indent=3|abbreviations=DIR:direct
| y dyn sy'n blewog iawn
| the man {DIR-REL + is} hairy very
| "the man who is very hairy"}}

There is also a defective verb "piau" (usually lenited to "biau"), corresponding to "who own(s)":

{{interlinear|indent=3|abbreviations=DIR:direct
| y dyn piau castell anferth
| the man {DIR-REL + owns} castle huge 
| "the man who owns a huge castle"}}

Indirect relative clauses are formed with a [[relativizer]] at the beginning; the relativized element remains ''in situ'' in the relative clause.

;Irish
{{interlinear|indent=3|abbreviations=IND:indirect
| an fear a bhfuil a iníon san ospidéal
| the man IND-REL is his daughter {in the} hospital
| "the man whose daughter is in the hospital"}}
;Welsh
{{interlinear|indent=3|abbreviations=IND:indirect
| y dyn y rhois y llyfr iddo
| the man IND-REL {I gave} the book {to him}
| "the man to whom I gave the book"}}

Although both the Irish relative pronoun and the relativizer are 'a', the relative pronoun triggers lenition of a following consonant, while the relativizer triggers eclipsis (see [[Irish initial mutations]]).

Both direct and indirect relative particles can be used simply for emphasis, often in answer to a question or as a way of disagreeing with a statement. For instance, the Welsh example above, "y dyn a welais" means not only "the man whom I saw", but also "it was the man (and not anyone else) I saw"; and "y dyn y rhois y llyfr iddo" can likewise mean "it was the man (and not anyone else) to whom I gave the book".