Que is a connective word used in Spanish in subordinate clauses.
Que in indirect speech
When que is used in indirect speech, i.e reporting what someone says, we need to use "que": we cannot omit it, even though in English "that" is optional.
Here are some examples:
You can see in the examples above that you could omit "that" in English, but in Spanish you cannot omit "que"; the sentence would not make sense.
Que as a relative pronoun
When we use "que" as a relative pronoun, i.e referring to a noun, the same rule applies. Note that in this case, in English, you cannot always omit which/that either.
La vecina que vive en el tercer piso hace mucho ruido.The neighbour who lives on the third floor makes a lot of noise.
These sentences would be incorrect in Spanish, they don't make sense without que:
El chocolate te comiste era mío.
Nuestro perro, tiene solo 3 meses, tuvo un accidente ayer.
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Examples and resources
Nuestro perro, que tiene solo 3 meses, tuvo un accidente ayer.Our dog, who is just 3 months old, had an accident yesterday.
La vecina que vive en el tercer piso hace mucho ruido.The neighbour who lives on the third floor makes a lot of noise.
