Modern Greek Grammar - Relative Clauses

Relative Clauses

Greek has two different ways of forming relative clauses. The simpler and by far the more frequent uses the invariable relativizer που (, 'that', literally 'where'), as in: η γυναίκα που είδα χτες (, 'the woman that I saw yesterday'). When the relativized element is a subject, object or adverbial within the relative clause, then – as in English – it has no other overt expression within the relative clause apart from the relativizer. Some other types of relativized elements, however, such as possessors, are represented within the clause by a resumptive pronoun, as in: η γυναίκα που βρήκα την τσάντα της (/i ʝiˈneka pu ˈvrika tin ˈt͡sanda tis/, 'the woman whose handbag I found', literally 'the woman that I found her handbag').

The second and more formal form of relative clauses employs complex inflected relative pronouns. They are composite elements consisting of the definite article and a following pronominal element that is inflected like an adjective: ο οποίος, η οποία, το οποίο ( etc., literally 'the which'). Both elements are inflected for case, number and gender according to the grammatical properties of the relativized item within the relative clause, as in: η γυναίκα την οποία είδα χτες (, 'the woman whom I saw yesterday'); η γυναίκα της οποίας βρήκα την τσάντα (, 'the woman whose handbag I found').