⇒ Relative adjectives like cuyo refer to a noun previously mentioned in a sentence (the fancy word for this is antecedent) and introduce a relative clause.
⇒ Relative adjectives are very useful for providing additional information about something or someone that you have already mentioned.
⇒ Cuyo, which translates to whose, always agrees with the noun it refers to in gender and number and has four different forms.
| Masculine Singular | Masculine Plural | Feminine Singular | Feminine Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| cuyo | cuyos | cuya | cuyas |
⇒ Cuyo contrasts with relative pronouns because it agrees in number and gender with the possessed noun, not the possessor
⇒ For example, in the first sentence below, cuyo agrees with gato (the possessed noun), not hermana (the possessor).
| Es mi hermana cuyo gato se fue.She’s my sister whose cat ran away. |
| Los niños, cuyas manos están sucias, tienen que lavarse.The children, whose hands are dirty, need to wash up. |
| Esta es la familia cuya casa es tan grande.This is the family whose house is so big. |
| Mi vecino, cuyos gatos siempre me molestan, está en Francia.My neighbor, whose cats always annoy me, is in France. |
| Taylor es la artista cuyas obras están en Nueva York.Taylor is the artist whose art is in New York. |