El Cual/La Cual/Lo Cual

[Bobbert]

From a written article:

El crimen quedó captado por las cámaras de seguridad del hogar, el cual pertenece a un policía de Investigación Criminal de la Fiscalía General del Estado.

Why is “el cual” used in the sentence?
What does “el cual” refer to?

I would have used “las cuales” because I thought it was referring to the security cameras, which are feminine. In this case, is it referring to the crime, which is masculine?

En una audiencia, arremetió contra las grandes empresas por su rechazo a trabajar "constructivamente" con el Congreso, la cual raya en un insulto al pueblo estadounidense.

Why is “la cual” used in the sentence?
What does “la cual” refer to?

I would have used “el cual” because I thought it was referring to the refusal, which is masculine.

Are these sentences written correctly? If so, please explain why so I can see what I am missing.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by Bobbert

From a written article:

El crimen quedó captado por las cámaras de seguridad del hogar, el cual pertenece a un policía de Investigación Criminal de la Fiscalía General del Estado.

Why is “el cual” used in the sentence?
What does “el cual” refer to?

I would have used “las cuales” because I thought it was referring to the security cameras, which are feminine. In this case, is it referring to the crime, which is masculine?

I think "el cual" may refer to "el hogar", which belongs to the police officer.

Originally Posted by Bobbert

En una audiencia, arremetió contra las grandes empresas por su rechazo a trabajar "constructivamente" con el Congreso, la cual raya en un insulto al pueblo estadounidense.

Why is “la cual” used in the sentence?
What does “la cual” refer to?

I would have used “el cual” because I thought it was referring to the refusal, which is masculine.

Are these sentences written correctly? If so, please explain why so I can see what I am missing.

Perhaps "la cual" refers to "una audiencia"?

[Bobbert]

Thank you, wrholt. Those are possibilities that I had not considered.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree with Wrholt in the first sentence. It's "el hogar", which ("el cual") belongs to the policeman.


In the second sentence, it's natural to go find the feminine part of the sentence to make sense of "la cual", but it sounds strange to me that "la audiencia", would be the insult to the American people, when what should be more offensive is the fact that the firms won't cooperate with the Congress. I think in this case it's a typo and it should say "lo cual". "Lo", because it's an act (we don't know if it's masculine or feminine), more than a noun what is being talked about.

· El vecino hace grabaciones de cantos de pájaros, lo cual me encanta. -> I love the action of recording the birds singing, so "lo", despite the fact that I could also talk about the recordings (feminine noun) and say "las cuales me encantan".
· El Dr. Pérez escribió un libro muy interesante, el cual se puede conseguir en cualquier librería. -> The book (a masculine noun) can be bought in any bookstore, so "el cual". If I talk about the fact that he wrote a book, I might say something like "...escribió un libro muy interesante, lo cual es un logro a sus 85 años".
· La razón por la cual no terminé el trabajo es que el perro se enfermó. -> "La cual" because "la razón" is a feminine noun. But since this might not be considered a valid reason by my boss, he might say: "lo cual es inaceptable y estás despedida".


Side note: My old teachers taught me that when talking about people, we always use "quien", but lately it's more and more common to see "el/la cual", so you choose.

· Hoy nos visita la señora López, quien/la cual es presidenta del colegio.
· Les presento al Dr. Pérez, quien/el cual ha escrito varios libros sobre biología.
· Ya anunciaron a los ganadores del concurso, quienes/los cuales recibirán muchos premios.
· Hubo tres niñas rescatadas del naufragio, quienes/las cuales fueron entregadas a sus respectivas familias.

[Bobbert]

Thank you, AngelicaDeAlquezar, for the very thorough explanations and examples. They are very much appreciated.

That completely clears it up for me.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Glad to help.