Using cuyo, cuya, cuyos, cuyas to say whose + noun (relative adjective)

Take the fastest path to fluent Spanish

Learn how to use the Spanish relative cuyo

To express whose + noun in Spanish we use the relative adjective cuyo.

Have a look and listen to the following examples:

Roberto, cuyo hijo va al colegio de mi hija, es abogado.Roberto, whose son goes to my daughter's school, is a lawyer.

Andrea, cuya jefa es tambien mi jefa, es una buena compañera.Andrea, whose boss is also my boss, is a good colleague.

Tu amigo, cuyos consejos seguiste, no es una persona de fiar.Your friend, whose advice you followed, is not a trustworthy person.

Note that these nouns can also be preceded by a preposition, although depending on which preposition is needed, the translation then would not be as straightforward as whose and it would sound very formal and old-fashioned in English:

La casa, en cuyas habitaciones dormimos, era muy tradicional.The house, in whose rooms we slept, was very traditional.

Regardless of the gender and number of the possessor, the first part of the adjective remains the same:
cuy- 

But the endings will vary in accordance with the possession:
(-o, -a, -os, -as)

Have a look at this table:

 Whose Masculine possession

Feminine possession

Singular

cuyo

cuya

Plural

cuyos

cuyas

Remember that this adjective is formal.

More colloquially, we could express the same thing this way:

Andrea, cuya jefa es también mi jefa, es una buena compañera.

Andrea, que su jefa es también mi jefa, es una buena compañera.

or

Roberto, cuyo hijo va al colegio de mi hija, es abogado.

Roberto, que tiene un hijo que va al colegio de mi hija, es abogado.

Want to make sure your Spanish sounds confident? We’ll map your knowledge and give you free lessons to focus on your gaps and mistakes. Start your Brainmap today »

Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics

Examples and resources

Roberto, cuyo hijo va al colegio de mi hija, es abogado.Roberto, whose son goes to my daughter's school, is a lawyer.
Andrea, cuya jefa es tambien mi jefa, es una buena compañera.Andrea, whose boss is also my boss, is a good colleague.
La casa, en cuyas habitaciones dormimos, era muy tradicional.The house, in whose rooms we slept, was very traditional.
Tu amigo, cuyos consejos seguiste, no es una persona de fiar.Your friend, whose advice you followed, is not a trustworthy person.
Clever stuff happening!