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Look at these Spanish examples:
El vestido con el que fui al baile era rojo.The dress which I went to the ball with was red.
La universidad para la que trabajé es bastante famosa.The university which I worked for is quite famous.
Los hoteles en los que te alojaste eran de cinco estrellas.The hotels which you stayed in had five stars.
Las zapatillas con las que ella hizo deporte no eran muy cómodas.The trainers which she exercised in were not very comfortable.
The relative pronouns el que, la que, los que and las que must agree with the word that precedes them. They can be used to refer to both people and things.
El hombre para el que reservé el hotel estaba muy contento.The man who I booked the hotel for was very happy.
Los estudiantes con los que salí de fiesta eran muy simpáticos.The students who I partied with were very nice.
Note that (with most prepositions) we sometimes drop the article when talking about things:
El vestido con el que fui al baile era rojo. (correct)
El vestido con que fui al baile era rojo. (correct)
However, if we talk about people, we need to keep the article:
El hombre para el que trabajaba era muy rico. (correct)
El hombre para que trabajaba era muy rico. (incorrect)
The man he worked for was very rich.
Note that if you refer to people, you can also use the relative pronoun quien/quienes:
La chica con la que salía antes era francesa.The girl who I used to date was French.
La chica con quien salía antes era francesa.The girl who I used to date was French.
Los abogados con los que hablé parecían muy profesionales.The solicitors I spoke with seemed very professional.
Los abogados con quienes hablé parecían muy profesionales.The solicitors I spoke with seemed very professional.
It's important to note that the slightly more formal relatives "el cual, la cual, los cuales, las cuales" can also be used with prepositions exactly the same way as we showed above. But remember that in this case you need agreement in gender and number. For example:
El artículo en el cual estoy trabajando ahora va a publicarse dentro de 3 días.The article I'm working on now is going to be published in 3 days.
La chica con la cual salía antes era francesa.The girl who I used to date was French.
Los chicos para los cuales reservé el hotel estaban muy contentos.The boys who I booked the hotel for were very happy.
Las sillas en las cuales nos sentamos eran muy incómodas.The chairs we sat on were very unconfortable.
See also Using preposition a and de + el que, la que, los que, las que = to/of/from/about which/who (relative pronouns)
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