español · B2 · grammar · 5 minutes
Cuyo agrees with the thing owned
Build compact relative clauses that connect an owner directly to a possession.
Understand the choice
Cuyo, cuya, cuyos, and cuyas connect a previously named owner with a noun that follows immediately. The form agrees with that possessed noun: cuyo artículo, cuya autora, cuyos datos, cuyas conclusiones. It is concise and especially useful in careful written Spanish.
Core rule: Cuyo links an owner to a following possession and agrees in gender and number with the possession, not the owner.
Notice it in context
La investigadora cuyo artículo citaste trabaja con una empresa cuyos datos son públicos.
The researcher whose article you cited works with a company whose data is public.
Cuyo agrees with singular masculine artículo; cuyos agrees with plural masculine datos.
Conocí a una autora cuya novela ganó el premio.
I met an author whose novel won the prize.
Cuya agrees with feminine singular novela.
Visitamos un pueblo cuyas calles son peatonales.
We visited a town whose streets are pedestrian-only.
Cuyas agrees with feminine plural calles.
El músico con cuyo hermano trabajé vive aquí.
The musician whose brother I worked with lives here.
A required preposition can stand before cuyo.
Es una teoría cuyos límites conocemos bien.
It is a theory whose limits we know well.
Cuyos matches plural límites, not singular teoría.
La casa, cuyo tejado fue reparado, ya está en venta.
The house, whose roof was repaired, is already for sale.
Commas mark this relative clause as additional information.
What to remember
- Look right, not left, to choose the ending: cuya novela, cuyos datos, cuyas calles.
- The possessed noun must follow cuyo directly; do not insert an article between them.
- Prepositions required by the clause can precede cuyo: con cuyo hermano, en cuya casa.
Common trap: Do not write la autora que su novela ganó. In careful Spanish, use la autora cuya novela ganó and make cuya agree with novela.