During your studies, you might come across quien and que used as relative pronouns referring to people as in the following sentences. Both are correct:
Los hombres que viste están en peligro.
The men that you saw are in danger.
Fue él quien me enseñó la casa.
He was the one who showed me the house.
Obviously, quien refers only to people. When referring to a thing, que is used:
El libro que le he prestado a Hector es extenso, no es corto.
The book that I lent to Hector is extensive. It's not short.
La casa que fue diseñado por el arquitecto mexicano es de color amarillo.
The house that was designed by the Mexican architect is yellow. (Remember that the true passive voice isn't used in Spanish as much as it is in English.)
When the person being referred to is the direct object, remember to use the personal a with quien:
La señora que conocí anoche es la madre de Julio.
La señora a quien conocí anoche es la madre de Julio.
The woman whom I met last night is Julio's mother.
Vocabulary of the Day
margarita daisy (the first thing that came to mind was Margarita, the drink, right?!
dar (o echar) margaritas a los cerdos (o puercos) means the same as to cast pearls before swine
deshojar la margarita means to play "she loves me, she loves me not." deshojar means to pull the petals off (or to rip the pages out of)
By the way, the word margarita is of Greek origin, via Latin and means pearl. Interesting article in Spanish on the etymology of the word.
