Unpacking Long Spanish Sentences with Embedded Relative Clauses

In this lesson, you will read long Spanish sentences with one or more embedded relative clauses. You will identify the main clause first, then attach each relative clause to its antecedent, track prepositions and agreement, and decide whether commas mark restrictive or parenthetical information. Finally, you will rebuild the full meaning without dropping a condition inside the relative clause.

Sentence 1

— The report that was prepared by the team that works with international clients will be published on Friday.

Find the main clause

Main clause:

— The report will be published on Friday.

First relative clause

— that the team prepared.

This clause — the report.

Second embedded relative clause

— that works with international clients.

This clause — the team, not el informe.

Rebuild the structure

1. There is a report.

2. A team prepared it.

3. That team works with international clients.

4. The report will be published Friday.

Sentence 2 with a preposition

— The company for which Marta works has opened an office in the building that we talked about yesterday.

Main clause:

— The company has opened an office.

Relative 1:

— for which Marta works.

Relative 2:

— that we talked about yesterday.

Track the preposition

— to work for a company.

— to talk about a building.

The preposition inside the relative structure comes from the relationship required by the verb or expression.

Sentence 3 with cuyo

— The researcher whose article we cited yesterday directs the project whose results will be presented tomorrow.

Cuyo artículo connects la investigadora with artículo.

Cuyos resultados connects el proyecto with resultados.

The agreement follows the possessed nouns artículo and resultados.

Sentence 4 with parenthetical information

— The director, who arrived yesterday from Madrid, will present the report that the legal team prepared.

Parenthetical:

— who arrived yesterday from Madrid.

This gives extra information about the already identified director.

Restrictive:

— that the legal team prepared.

This identifies which report is being discussed.

Do not drop a condition hidden inside the relative clause

Sentence:

— Users who have completed registration before Friday will receive early access.

Main result:

— will receive early access.

Restriction:

— who have completed registration before Friday.

Do not summarize this as “all users will receive early access.”

Sentence 5 with lo cual

— The supplier changed the delivery date without warning, which forced the team to modify the schedule it had prepared.

Lo cual refers to the entire fact that the supplier changed the delivery date without warning.

Que había preparado refers to — the schedule.

Use punctuation as a map

Commas often help you identify parenthetical relative clauses.

No commas often signal information needed to identify the noun or subset.

Punctuation is not the only clue, but it is useful.

Use agreement as a map

In:

— the proposals among which we will choose.

Las cuales agrees with las propuestas.

This helps identify the antecedent in a long sentence.

Read in chunks

Do not try to translate the entire sentence word by word from left to right.

Instead:

Find the main verb.
Identify the main subject and object.
Bracket each relative clause mentally.
Attach each relative clause to one antecedent.
Track the preposition required inside the clause.
Use agreement and commas to test your analysis.
Rebuild the sentence with all restrictions preserved.

From Embedded Clauses to Adjective Position

You can now unpack long sentences without losing the reference or restrictions inside relative clauses. The next lesson teaches Spanish Adjective Position and Changes of Meaning.