In English you can say both "I have a friend that lives in Panama" or "I have a friend who lives in Panama". But you can't do that in Spanish. We only use the first choice (with that), which is translated into Spanish as "que". We use "quien" in sentences like "Sebastian es el chico a quien Lola pidó ayuda". Here, "a quien" is the object of the verb "pidió", not the subject. In this case we use "quien" instead of "que". Hope this helps.

Hello fellow Spanish language learner. I'm only intermediate and may answer this incorrectly, but I think both use "que" because you are trying to connect two verb phrases (tengo...que...vive; es...que...está hablando), which is usually done with "que." The same thing happens in English: I have a friend that lives in Panama. Sebastian is the boy that is talking with Lola. Hopefully a native can correct me if I'm wrong. I hope this helps, though!

We use "que" in both sentences. Usamos "que" en las dos oraciones. 1. We use "quien" when you are asking a question about a third person you don´t the name, like... ¿Quién es el que está hablando con Lola? but the answer will be... Sebastian es el chico "que" está hablando con Lola. 2. We also use it like object of the verb like David Santos said. a quien con quien para quien

Greetings. I have to say that even I'm a native spanish speaker I don't know the reason why these sentences are written with "que" instead of "quien", so I browsed the web and came up with an academic answer: http://cvc.cervantes.es/foros/leer_asunto1.asp?vcodigo=12642 The language used in this forum is quite formal so I'll try to sumarize it to you: Among the various types of relative sentences there are "especificativas" and "explicativas". In your examples both are "especificativas" which means the relative pronoun acts as a subject, and since it works like a subject it can't be followed by a relative pronoun that contains a detemination: "quien/quienes = el/los + que" or "quien/quienes = (article) + que" It seems to be a grammar rule. Also the user that answers a similar question in that forum explains the difference between relative sentences "especificativas" and "explicativas" with this example: "Sólo puede desempeñar la función de sujeto en una oración de relativo especificativa un relativo sin determinación: Las personas que viven allí no están En cambio, los pronombres con determinación sí pueden desempeñar la función de sujeto en una oración de relativo explicativa: Las personas, las que viven allí, no están" The difference between the two options are the commas. It is quite difficult even for a native, and the user that gives the answer must be a genious. If you found it helpful don't thank me, thank the user of that forum: "Enrique Aletá Alcubierre "

Hi, Asli. In those sentences you can only use "que' and not "quien" because they are defining relative clauses. If they were non-defining relative clauses, you could use both 'que' and 'quien', but with defining relative clauses, you can only use 'que'. Some examples: Esa es la chica que trabaja en el supermercado (That's the girl who works in the supermarket) and NOT *Esa es la chica quien trabaja en el supermercado <- NOT Juan es el mejor amigo que he tenido (Juan is the best friend I have had) and NOT *Juan es el mejor amigo quien he tenido <- NOT Here some examples with non-defining relative clauses, where you can use both 'que' and 'quien': Ayer comí con mis padres, que tienen un coche nuevo / Ayer comí con mis padres, quienes tienen un coche nuevo (Yesterday I ate with my parents, who have a new car) Este es Juan, que trabaja en un hospital / Este es Juan, quien trabaja en un hospital (This is Juan, who works in a hospital) However, if there is a preposition before the relative pronoun, you can use 'quien' even if it's a defining relative clause. I'm sorry but languages have this kind of tricky stuff. So you can say: Ese es el chico de quien he oído hablar mucho (That's the boy I have heard a lot about) María es una persona en quien puedes confiar (María is a person you can trust in) I hope I helped you a little.