La diferencia entre "who" y "whom"

El otro día, dos alumnos míos vinieron a verme con un dilema. They were arguing about when "whom" should be used instead of "who".

I understood right away the problem: both translate to ‘quién’ or ‘quien’... (depending on whether it’s being used in a question/exclamation or not).

At least we’re lucky that there’s no accent in English! Now that would be complicated.

Going back the dilemma, it’s actually pretty simple.

When wondering whether you should write whom or who, ask yourself this:

Is the answer "him" or "he"?

If the answer is "him", the question is "whom". Notice that both end with an m.

For example, “¿Con quién vas a ir a la fiesta?” “Con él”.

"Él" translates to "him" here, so "quién" in this case is "whom".

So, the correct translation would be: “Whom are you going to the party with?”

“With him”.

On the other hand, if we ask “¿Quién rompió el plato?” “Él lo hizo”, we should use who.

“Él lo hizo” is “He did”, so we have that the translation is: “¿Who broke the dish?” “He did”.

Overall, we can say it’s not as hard as it seems to be.

Just remember that the m goes with the m. No te olvides de los m&m.

I hope that helps!

Daniel - Tu coach inglés