jejíž / které

[artimedoros49]

Hi,

In the following subordinate clause, would it be OK to use které instead of jejíž?

Karel Tahal (A Grammar of Czech), notes that jejíž is „bookish“, so I’m wondering if in the following context they are interchangeable.

Povídka vypráví příběh ženy, jejíž jedinou zábavou je chodit na pohřby.

Thank you.

 

[Mori.cze]

Hi,

not really. It would be understood and strictly gramatically even correct, but it would not sound natural.

Jejíž here means whose, whereas které would mean which, which is far less appropriate. Moreover, které would sound better (erm, I mean less bad) with different word order:
Povídka vypráví příběh ženy, jedinou zábavou které je chodit na pohřby. (possible, but jejíž is clearly the first choice here).

To make the sentence really work with která you would need to reformulate so that the woman is the subject of the relative clause:

Povídka vypráví příběh ženy, která nemá jinou zábavu, než chodit na pohřby.

 

[artimedoros49]

Thank you very much for that explanation, Mori.