ABSTRACT

Relative pronouns link main clauses with subordinate clauses, introducing additional information about a preceding subject or object (the antecedent). In English, the main relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which and that. When, where and why can also be relative pronouns. In Italian relative pronouns can never be omitted, unlike English. These relative pronouns refer to an entire action or concept rather than to a single noun. When prepositions are used with the relative pronouns che and il quale, etc., che changes form and il quale undergoes minor modifications. When using relative pronouns with verbs such as piacere (a), servire (a) and mancare (a), it is essential to distinguish between the grammatical subject and object, because these differ in Italian and English. In passive and impersonal constructions, the English subject is the Italian direct or indirect object, so again take care.