whose
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whose
possessive case of which or who: Whose comb is this?
Not to be confused with:
who's – who is: Who’s going with you?
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree
whose
(ho͞oz)Usage Note: The use of whose to refer to inanimate antecedents (as in We could see a building whose roof was painted gold) has been criticized by usage commentators since the 1700s. The tradition holds that whose should function only as the possessive of who, and be limited in reference to persons. Nonetheless, whose has been used to refer to inanimate things since the 1300s, and it appears in the works of many illustrious writers, including Shakespeare, Milton, and Wordsworth. This use of whose undoubtedly serves a useful purpose, since which and that do not have possessive forms, and the substitute phrase of which is often cumbersome. Thus, the sentence He pointed to a grove of trees whose trunks were coated with ice is made somewhat stilted by the avoidance of whose: He pointed to a grove of trees, the trunks of which were coated with ice. As sentences become more complicated, the use of of which can be especially clumsy. But the notion of whose properly being a form of who (and not which) has considerable bearing on attitudes about the word. In our 2002 survey, only 44 percent of the Usage Panel approved of an example in which whose refers to a river: The EPA has decided to dredge the river, whose bottom has been polluted for years. The association of whose with people undoubtedly influenced the Panel's response to an example that is syntactically similar to the previous one, in which the antecedent is a book, but the subject of the whose clause is a person. Some 63 percent of the Panel accepted the sentence The book, whose narrator speaks in the first person, is a mock autobiography. Note that this still leaves almost 40 percent of the Panel in disapproval. Because the alternative phrasing to whose can be so awkward, there is often no easy solution to this problem except to recast the sentence to avoid whose altogether. See Usage Notes at else, which, who.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
whose
(huːz)determiner
1.
a. of whom? belonging to whom? used in direct and indirect questions: I told him whose fault it was; whose car is this?.
b. (as pronoun): whose is that?.
2. of whom; belonging to whom; of which; belonging to which: used as a relative pronoun: a house whose windows are broken.
[Old English hwæs, genitive of hwā who and hwæt what]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
whose
(huz)pron.
1. the possessive case of who used as an adjective: someone whose faith is strong.
2. the possessive case of which used as an adjective: a word whose meaning escapes me; a cat whose fur is white.
3. the one or ones belonging to what person or persons: Whose umbrella is that?
[before 900; Middle English whos, early Middle English hwās, alter. of hwas, Old English hwæs, genitive of hwā who]
usage: Sometimes the phrase of which is used as the possessive of which:Chicago is a city of which the attractions are many or Chicago is a city the attractions of which are many. The use of this phrase can often seem awkward or pretentious, whereas whose sounds more idiomatic: Chicago is a city whose attractions are many.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
whose
1. used in relative clauses
You use a noun phrase containing whose /huːz/ at the beginning of a relative clause to show who or what something belongs to or is connected with. Whose is used in both defining and non-defining clauses.
A noun phrase containing whose can be the subject or object of a verb, or the object of a preposition.
It is a story whose purpose is to entertain.
This was one of the students whose work I had seen.
When whose is the object of a preposition, the preposition can come at the beginning or end of the clause.
You should consider the people in whose home you are staying.
It was an article whose subject I have never heard of.
2. used in questions
You use whose in questions when you are asking who something belongs to or is connected with. Whose can be a determiner or a pronoun.
Whose fault is it?
Whose is this?
3. used in reported clauses
Whose is also used in reported clauses.
It would be interesting to know whose idea it was.
Do you know whose fault it is?
Be Careful!
Don't confuse whose with who's, which is also pronounced /huːz/. When you write down what someone says, you can write 'who is' or 'who has' as who's. Don't write them as 'whose'.
'Edward drove me here.' – 'Who's Edward?'
Who's left these boots here?
Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012
Translations
čí
hvis
kies
kenenjonka
čiječiji
aki éaki nek aki é?ki nek a ...?
hvershvers, sem
誰の誰のもの
누구의누구의 것
kienokurio
kākura
číktoréhoktorej
čigarčigav
vars
ของใครของผู้ใด
của ai
whose
[huːz]A. PRON (in direct and indirect questions) → de quién
whose is this? → ¿de quién es esto?
whose are these? (1 owner expected) → ¿de quién son éstos?; (2 or more owners expected) → ¿de quiénes son éstos?
I don't know whose it is → no sé de quién es
whose is this? → ¿de quién es esto?
whose are these? (1 owner expected) → ¿de quién son éstos?; (2 or more owners expected) → ¿de quiénes son éstos?
I don't know whose it is → no sé de quién es
B. ADJ
1. (in direct and indirect questions) → de quién
whose purse is this? → ¿de quién es este monedero?
whose cars are these? (1 owner expected) → ¿de quién son estos coches?; (2 or more owners expected) → ¿de quiénes son estos coches?
whose fault was it? → ¿quién tuvo la culpa?
whose car did you go in? → ¿en qué coche fuiste?
do you know whose hat this is? → ¿sabes de quién es este sombrero?
I don't know whose watch this is → no sé de quién es este reloj
whose purse is this? → ¿de quién es este monedero?
whose cars are these? (1 owner expected) → ¿de quién son estos coches?; (2 or more owners expected) → ¿de quiénes son estos coches?
whose fault was it? → ¿quién tuvo la culpa?
whose car did you go in? → ¿en qué coche fuiste?
do you know whose hat this is? → ¿sabes de quién es este sombrero?
I don't know whose watch this is → no sé de quién es este reloj
2. (relative) → cuyo
those whose passports I have → aquellas personas cuyos pasaportes tengo, or de las que tengo pasaportes
the man whose hat I took → el hombre cuyo sombrero tomé
the man whose seat I sat in → el hombre en cuya silla me senté
the cup whose handle you broke → la taza a la que le rompiste el asa
In direct and indirect questions
As a relative
those whose passports I have → aquellas personas cuyos pasaportes tengo, or de las que tengo pasaportes
the man whose hat I took → el hombre cuyo sombrero tomé
the man whose seat I sat in → el hombre en cuya silla me senté
the cup whose handle you broke → la taza a la que le rompiste el asa
WHOSE
In direct and indirect questions
• Whose in direct questions as well as after report verbs and expressions of (un)certainty and doubt (e.g. no sé) translates as de quién/de quiénes, (never cuyo):
Whose coat is this? ¿De quién es este abrigo? He asked us whose coats they were Nos preguntó de quiénes eran los abrigos I don't know whose umbrella this is No sé de quién es este paraguasAs a relative
• In relative clauses whose can be translated by cuyo/cuya/cuyos/cuyas and must agree with the following noun:
The man whose daughter is a friend of Emily's works for the Government El señor cuya hija es amiga de Emily trabaja para el Gobierno ...the house whose roof collapsed... ...la casa cuyo tejado se hundió...NOTE When whose refers to more than one noun, make cuyo agree with the first:
...a party whose policies and strategies are very extremist... ...un partido cuya política y tácticas son muy extremistas...• However, cuyo is not much used in spoken Spanish. Try using another structure instead:
...the house whose roof collapsed... ...la casa a la que se le hundió el tejado... My daughter, whose short story won a prize in the school competition, wants to be a journalist Mi hija, a quien premiaron por su relato en el concurso de la escuela, quiere ser periodista! There is no accent on quien here, as it is a relative pronoun.
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
whose
[ˈhuːz]Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
whose
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
whose
(huːz) adjective, pronoun belonging to which person(?). Whose is this jacket?; Whose (jacket) is this?; Whose car did you come back in?; In whose house did this incident happen?; Tell me whose (pens) these are.
relative adjective, relative pronoun of whom or which (the). Show me the boy whose father is a policeman; What is the name of the man whose this book is?
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
whose
→ الَّذِي, لـِمَنْ čí hvis dessen, wessen τίνος, του οποίου cuyo, de quién kenen à qui, dont čije, čiji di chi 誰の, 誰のもの 누구의, 누구의 것 van wie hvem sin czyj cujo, de quem чей vars ของใคร, ของผู้ใด ki onun, kimin của ai 谁的Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009