Spanish · B1 · Everyday language
People We Trust in Spanish
This guide helps you talk with your child about the reliable people in their school and neighborhood. We focus on relative clauses using verbs like help, trust, and thank, which require specific prepositions or object structures in Spanish.
What you'll learn
- Identify supportive community members (coaches, teachers, neighbors).
- Use relative pronouns like 'a quien', 'al que', and 'en quien' correctly.
- Practice verbs that take indirect objects or specific prepositions.
Spanish phrases for people we trust
¿Es ese el niño al que ayudaste con su mochila?
Is that the boy you helped with his school bag?
Spanish uses 'al que' (a + el que) for 'whom' when helping a person.
Esa es la niña a la que ayudaste con sus deberes.
That is the girl you helped with her homework.
'A la que' is the feminine relative pronoun used here.
Esos son los niños a los que ayudamos durante el entrenamiento deportivo.
Those are the children we helped during sports practice.
'A los que' is used for the plural 'the children'.
El entrenador en quien confías está dirigiendo la sesión de entrenamiento de hoy.
The coach you trust is leading today's training session.
The verb 'confiar' requires 'en', so we use 'en quien'.
La profesora a la que le crees ha explicado los deberes de nuevo.
The teacher you believe has explained the homework again.
We use 'le' with 'creer' to indicate believing someone's word.
Los vecinos en quienes confiamos te acompañarán a casa hoy.
The neighbours we trust will walk you home today.
'En quienes' is the plural form for 'in whom' (whom we trust).
El padre al que le agradecimos encontró tu lonchera perdida.
The father we thanked found your missing lunchbox.
'Agradecer' uses 'a' + the person, often with a redundant 'le'.
La madre a la que le agradeciste organizó la cita para jugar.
The mother you thanked organised the playdate.
'Cita para jugar' is a common way to say playdate in Spanish.
Hear these phrases and practise them
Tildi plays every phrase out loud, tests you in five-minute lessons and builds them into bedtime stories from your own picture books.
Try it free for 7 daysKey words
confiar en
to trust (someone)
Unlike English, Spanish always requires the preposition 'en' after this verb.
agradecer
to thank / to be grateful to
In a relative clause, it behaves like a dative verb (a quien le agradecemos).
el entrenador / la entrenadora
coach
Commonly used for school sports and extracurricular activities.
los deberes
homework
Usually used in plural form; 'la tarea' is also common in Latin America.
Relative Pronouns with Specific Verbs
In Spanish, when a relative pronoun refers to a person and follows a verb that requires 'a' (like helping or thanking) or 'en' (like trusting), we must include that preposition before the relative pronoun.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| With 'A' | al que / a la que / a quien | La mujer a la que ayudé. |
| With 'En' | en el que / en quien | El amigo en quien confío. |
| Plural Forms | a los que / a quienes / en quienes | Los padres a los que agradecimos. |
More examples
La policía a la que pedimos ayuda fue muy amable.
The police officer (fem.) we asked for help was very kind.
Example of 'pedir ayuda a alguien'.
Ellos son los amigos en quienes puedes confiar siempre.
They are the friends in whom you can always trust.
Using 'en quienes' for plural trust.