Sometimes, when we deal with complex sentences with the Russian word который, some logical problems come up. Since all its forms (кото́рый, кото́рого, кото́рому, кото́рым, кото́ром, кото́рая, кото́рой, кото́рую, кото́рое, кото́рые, кото́рых, кото́рыми) are translated as a humble English word “that”, it starts out looking like a confusing mess.
To illustrate more difficulties, let’s take a sentence:
У нас в шкафу живёт таракан, (который?) мы часто видим на кухне.
(In our cupboard lives a cockroach that we often see in the kitchen)
What form should we put there? Should it be который in the same gender and case as таракан, or should it be adapted to the second part of the sentence?
If you are not sure of the exact answer, I hope this article will be helpful to you. We will scrutinize this word in all its aspects until we are capable to fully tame it.
“Let’s go”, or The first notes
At first, let’s keep in mind some important characteristics of this word:
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The word который can refer to animate nouns (people, animals) as well as inanimate ones.
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Its endings change just like in adjectives.
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In the sentence it always should have a “parent” word it refers to. In our example above the “parent” word was таракан.
To choose the correct form of our misbehaving word, we should take into account:
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its gender,
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its number,
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its case,
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the preposition that refers to it.
Step 1: Gender and number
Let’s start with the simplest example:
У нас в шкафу живёт таракан. Он каждый день бегает по кухне.
(In our cupboard lives a cockroach. It runs about the kitchen every day)
Evidently, the word таракан in the first sentence and the pronoun он in the second one refer to the same real cockroach. Thus, evidently again, they have the same gender and number: masculine singular.
In the second sentence он is the subject (the agent of the action) and stays in the nominative case. It is the easiest situation: when we combine two sentences, we can simply substitute the pronoun он with our linking word который (masculine, singular), just like in the animation below. Simply as that!
У нас в шкафу живёт таракан, который каждый день бегает по кухне.
(In our cupboard lives a cockroach that runs about the kitchen every day)
If we have a full zoo in our kitchen, and there is also a mouse (мышь – feminine, singular) in the cupboard, then our word который will logically acquire the feminine gender:
У нас в шкафу живёт мышь, которая каждый день бегает по кухне.
(In our cupboard lives a mouse that runs about the kitchen every day)
Let’s remember the rule #1:
The gender and number of the word который always coincide with the gender and number of the “parent” word.
Step 2: Case
The next example is a little more complicated.
У нас в шкафу живёт таракан. Мы часто его видим на кухне.
(In our cupboard lives a cockroach. We often see it in the kitchen)
- In the first part of the sentence we have таракан, which is in the nominative case;
- In the second part we have его in the accusative case.
The question is: “When we link these sentences, should we adapt the word который to the first or the second part?”
The answer is strict and unequivocal: to the SECOND one. We should leave the first part in peace.
In the second part we have the verb видим that requires the accusative case for the pronoun его. Thus, when we substitute его with our linking word который, it should obediently follow the same rules and take the form of the accusative case: которого.
Let’s remember the rule #2:
The case of the word который should be the same as of the word we substitute, i.e. it should depend on the verb of the second part of the sentence. It does NOT depend on the case of the “parent” word.
By the way, we should remember that the word который has a strange intimate attachment with his “parent” word, and doesn’t admit any more “alien” words between them. At least it goes for most of “classic” situations, if we don’t try to complicate our life.
Thus, in our example таракан and который should not be separated by the phrase “мы часто”.
Let’s remember the rule #3:
In most of situations, the “parent” word and the word который should stay together, not being separated with other words.
So, our result is:
У нас в шкафу живёт таракан, которого мы часто видим на кухне.
(In our cupboard lives a cockroach that we often see in the kitchen)
What if таракан from the first sentence stays in a different case? Nothing, simply nothing! Look at the examples with таракан in the accusative, instrumental and prepositional cases:
Вчера мы заметили таракана, которого мы часто видим на кухне.
(Yesterday we noticed the cockroach that we often see in the kitchen)
Я познакомил друга с тараканом, которого мы часто видим на кухне.
(I introduced to my friend the cockroach that we often see in the kitchen)
По вечерам мы говорим о таракане, которого мы часто видим на кухне.
(In the evenings we talk about the cockroach that we often see in the kitchen)
Step 3: Preposition
As you could know, prepositions tend to have even stronger intimate attachment to their “host” words than the word который to its “parent” noun. Such a strong attachment that they even can intervene in between our words таракан and который!
Look how it works:
У нас в шкафу живёт таракан, с которым мы часто разговариваем. (In our cupboard lives a cockroach that we often talk to)
Analogously:
Это наш таракан, для которого мы готовим обед.
(It is our cockroach that we are preparing lunch for)
Вчера мы встретили таракана, о котором вы уже знаете.
(Yesterday we met the cockroach that you already know about)
Let’s remember the rule #4:
If the word that we substitute with который had a preposition before, this preposition will now be attached to который, staying before it.
Который in the middle of the main sentence
Let’s complicate things a little. One more option we have is to insert the second (subordinate) part of the sentence to the middle of the first (main) one. In this case, as you can guess, the “parent” word and the word который will remain together.
Compare the phrases:
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У нас в шкафу живёт таракан, который каждый день бегает по кухне.
(In our cupboard lives a cockroach that runs about the kitchen every day)
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Таракан, который каждый день бегает по кухне, живёт у нас в шкафу.
(The cockroach, which runs about our kitchen every day, lives in the cupboard)
One more example:
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Вчера мы встретили таракана, о котором вы уже знаете.
(Yesterday we met the cockroach that you already know about)
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Таракана, о котором вы уже знаете, мы встретили вчера.
– This sentence is difficult to translate, but I’m sure you understand the sense!
Most often, if we insert the subordinate sentence in the middle of the main one, который will be translated into English as “which” instead of “that”.
Conclusion
Time to make a summary? Here it is:
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The gender and number of the “parent” word and который should be the same.
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The case of который depends on the verb in the second part and doesn’t depend on the “parent” word.
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Most often, the “parent” word and который should not be separated with other words.
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The preposition should remain before который, even if it contradicts the rule 4.
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If we want to insert the subordinate sentence with который inside the main one, there is no problem.
If you find it complicated, try to find exercises covering all the theory in the same order: first in the nominative case only, then with all the cases, then with prepositions. After several dozens (well, sometimes hundreds) of typical sentences everything will be ok, I assure you!
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