Have you ever wondered howqueandde queare different, sinceboth are frequently translated as "that"? Well, grammatically speaking, the distinction betweenqueandde queis quite simple:queis used as a relative pronoun andde queas aconjunction. But that doesn't really solve the problem of learning how to use them for most of us, right? Let's see an example:
Una de las cosas que sé que tengo que hacer es ser...
One of the things that I know I have to do is to be...
Caption 65, 75 minutos - Gangas para ricos
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How do you know that you can't usede queinstead ofquehere? The answer is becausequeis being used as a pronoun, that is, to introduce a clause that provides more information about a noun,las cosas(the things). So by addingquethe person talking is expanding the meaning of the nouncosas(things): it's not just the things, but the things (that) shehas to do.
Now check out this example:
Tenía, como, el presentimiento de que me iba a pasar algo.
I had, like, the premonition that something was going to happen to me.
Caption 3, Club de las ideas - Intuición
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The use ofde queafter a noun is that of a conjunction: it's simplyused to connect words or groups of words, in this case a sentence with its subordinate. But how can you know this for sure? Here is a tip: trychanging "that" to "which" in the English translation. If the sentence still makes sense, then you know "that" is being used as a relative pronoun and you should useque. Otherwise, usede que, as aconjunction.So, in the previous example you must usede que,because saying"the premonitionwhichsomething..." just makes no sense in English. On the contrary, in the first example above, saying "one of the thingswhichI know..." may not be common in American English, but it's still correct, and that's how you know that you must use therelative pronounque. Keep in mind that this rule only works for sentences that usequeorde queafter a noun.
So, how do you say "I have the hope..." in Spanish? Do you saytengo la esperanzade queortengo la esperanzaque...? Cuban singer Alexis Valdes gives us the answer in his song "Canción de la semana"(Song of the Week):
Conservo la esperanza de que al final vendrás
I keep the hope that in the end, you will come
Caption 22, Alexis Valdés - Canción de la semana
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Now, you must know something. Don't get confused if you hear someone sayingconservo la esperanzaqueal final vendrásor something similar. As in any other language,Spanish speakers commonly disregard grammar rules in everydayspeech. In fact, usingde queinstead ofqueand vice versa are mistakes so common that they even have a name in Spanish:dequeísmois usingde queinstead ofque,whilequeísmo is usingqueinstead ofde que.By the way, these mistakes occur not only whende queandqueare preceded by nouns, but also by verbs.
If you pay close attention, you will find many cases ofdequeísmoandqueísmoin our videos. For example, in the expressiondarse cuenta de que(to realize that)theprepositionde(that)shouldn'tbeomitted but it usually does:
Tampoco sé si ella se dio cuenta que yo vi la bolsa de plástico.
I don't even know if she realized that I saw the plastic bag.
Caption 25, Dos Mundos - Escenas en Contexto
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This is a classic case ofqueísmo. As you can see, the sentence doesn't pass our little test: you can't say "sherealizedwhichI saw the plastic bag," which means the word "that" is not used as a relative pronoun but as a conjunction. So to begrammaticallycorrect you mustnecessarilyusede queand notquein Spanish. And still, Spanish speakers saydarse cuentaque, all the time! This teaches us language learners an additional lesson that isperhapsmore valuable than all the grammar in the world, and that is: don't let grammar rules stop you from practicing your conversational skills. Native speakers speak real language (which linguists callel hablain Spanish),which isn't always grammatically correct.
Talking about overdoing things... Did you know thatdequeísmois usually the result of a hypercorrectionin the attempt to avoidqueísmo?Thoughdequeísmousually only happens before verbs and not nouns. You can see this mistake in the following example:
Pero en la vida aprendí de que no se trata de "pobrecito"...
But in life I learned that it's not about "poor thing"...
Caption 2, Con ánimo de lucro - Cortometraje
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You must now be wondering: How can I know this is incorrect since our little "which-that" rule only works whende que / quecomes after a noun? Simple: because you can never usede queafter atransitiveverb such asaprender(to learn). Never, ever. You must say:creo que entiendo(I think [that]Iunderstandit), notcreode queentiendo;temoquedolerá(I'm afraid [that] it will hurt), nottemode quedolerá... etc.
