Relative Clauses - Overview
Relative clauses are dependent clauses that tell us more about an antecedent, which is often a noun or pronoun. Such clauses function adjectivally; they modify the antecedent. Take a look at the following examples:
- The students who studied for the exam did well.
- The girl whom I love does not love me back.
- The teacher whose students did well on the exam was proud.
- I want the chair which is not broken.
- The ship that we can see does not look seaworthy.
Note that each relative clause is introduced by the word who (or its related words, like whom or whose), which, or that. Each relative clause describes an antecedent: which students? The ones who studied for the exam. Which girl? The one whom I love.
Identifying Relative Clause Boundaries
In Latin, relative clauses are introduced by the relative pronoun, quī, quae, quod (“who, which, that”). This should hopefully be familiar to you from last semester – it’s the exact same entry as for the interrogative adjective. Last semester, we learned that forms of quī, quae, quod, when used as an interrogative adjective, modify an explicit noun in the sentence and ask a question: quī puer? Which boy? quae puella? Which girl?
Here, quī, quae, quod as a relative pronoun stands on its own and introduces a dependent clause that contains its own verb and whatever else the verb governs (objects, subjects, prepositional phrases, etc.).
Note also some special translations. The genitive of the relative pronoun usually indicates possession, so we can translate it as “whose”. Also, when a relative pronoun refers to a person, translations of oblique cases that indicate objective status, like an accusative direct object or dative indirect object, will often use the form “whom”, since that is the objective form of the relative pronoun in English (“who” is a subject!).
Take a look at the following examples, with the relative clause, introduced by the relative pronoun, in bold. Keep in mind that we will discuss specific rules regarding the relative pronoun in other sections of this module.
- vīdimus virōs quī ā nāvibus veniēbant. We saw the men who were coming from the ships.
- exempla quae magister mihi dedit cognoscō. I recognize the examples that the teacher gave to me. (magister, magistrī, m. - teacher)
- rex fēminae ā quā doctus erat crēdidit. The king trusted the woman by whom he had been taught.
Again, the relative clause is a dependent, subordinate clause. It usually begins at the relative pronoun or the preposition that governs it (e.g., ā of ā quā in the third example), and it usually (though not always) ends at the first conjugated verb or comma that follows the relative pronoun. It is extremely important to sequester the relative clause and understand what belongs to it sense- and grammar-wise so that you translate what belongs to the relative clause within the clause, without letting the main sentence creep in or vice versa.
In the sentence:
- exempla quae magister mihi dedit cognoscō. I recognize the examples that the teacher gave to me.
note that the core of the sentence is exempla cognoscō, “I recognize the examples.” We can extract the relative clause without affecting the coherence of the main sentence. The relative clause simply serves to tell us more information about its antecedent. Which examples do I recognize? The ones that the teacher gave to me.