Relative Clauses. The article in the relative phrase (II)

As it was mentioned in the previous post, there are four aspects that explain the absence of the definite article in a relative phrase introduced by a preposition in Spanish. Let´s remind them:

1. The preposition

2. The type of the relative clause

3. The antecedent of the relative pronoun/group/demonstrative

4. The syntactical structure of the relative clause

In this post we will see the first two aspects: the preposition and the type of the relative clause.

- The preposition

This is the simplest aspect. In current Spanish, only the prepositions a, con, de and en allow the absence of the definite article in the relative phrase. Nevertheless, there is being some cases where the preposition por has also appeared without the article but it is quite rare. See the example below:

- La espada con (la) que vencí en la batalla del destino está colgada en mi casa.

- La espada ante la que sucumbió el tirano del destino está colgada en mi casa. 

As you may observe, in the first sentence the absence of the article is an option because (among other aspects) the relative phrase begins with the preposition con. On the other hand, in the second example the relative phrase begins with the preposition ante, hence the impossibility of the absence of the definite article. 

- The type of the relative clause

This is not a very complicated aspect to explain either. The absence of the article depends heavily on the type of relative clause: restrictive or explanatory. It is possible to omit the article in the restrictive relative clauses but not in the explanatory ones. See the following example:

- El libro con (el) que pasa mucho tiempo es uno de los mejores que he visto para aprender gramática
- El libro, con el que pasa mucho tiempo, es uno de los mejores que he visto para aprender gramática

As we can see, in the first sentences we have a restrictive relative clause so (among other aspects) it is possible to omit the article. However, in the second sentence we have an explanatory relative clause and it is not possible to avoid the use of the definite article here.