German grammar › B1
Relative clauses — der, den, dem, dessen
Level B1 · gender from the noun, case from the role · preposition first · was
What is a relative clause?
A relative clause describes a noun with a whole little sentence: the man who lives next door. German uses der, die, das (in the right case) as “who / which / that”, and the verb goes to the end.
When you use it
- Saying which person or thing you mean.
- Adding information without starting a new sentence.
- Joining two short sentences into one.
Pattern
noun, relative pronoun … finite verb,
What changes
the relative pronoun — gender from the noun, case from its job in the clause
Examples
- der Mann, **der** hier wohnt — the man who lives here — subject
- der Mann, **den** ich kenne — the man (whom) I know — object
Remember: Relative pronouns look like the articles — only a few forms grow: dessen, deren, denen.
Watch out: German never drops the relative pronoun: “the film I saw” = der Film, den ich gesehen habe.
Uses: subordinate word order and the four cases.
Gender / number comes from the noun before the comma. Case comes from the job inside the relative clause.
This two-step rule is the key to choosing der / den / dem / dessen …
The 2-step decision — never choose from gender alone
- Find gender / number
Look at the noun it refers to: Mann = masculine, Frau = feminine, Kind = neuter, Kinder = plural. - Find the role
Is the relative pronoun the subject, the direct object, a dative object or possessive (whose)?
Relative pronoun table
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der | die | das | die |
| Accusative | den | die | das | die |
| Dative | dem | der | dem | denen |
| Genitive | dessen | deren | dessen | deren |
Same noun — the case changes with the role
- Nominative: Der Mann, der dort steht, ist mein Vater. — “der” is the subject of steht → he stands.
- Accusative: Der Mann, den ich sehe, ist mein Vater. — “ich” is the subject; I see him → den is the direct object.
- Dative: Der Mann, dem ich helfe, ist mein Vater. — helfen takes the dative → I help him.
- Genitive: Der Mann, dessen Auto dort steht, ist mein Vater. — dessen = whose, referring back to a masculine / neuter noun.
- Who does it? — subject → nominative
- Whom do I see? — direct object → accusative
- Whom do I help? — dative verb / object → dative
Relative clauses are subordinate clauses
Der Mann, | den ich | sehe, | ist mein Vater.
Der Mann, = the noun · den ich = pronoun + subject · sehe, = verb at the end · ist mein Vater. = main clause
Relative pronoun near the beginning · finite verb at the end of the relative clause.
Preposition + relative pronoun
The preposition comes FIRST
Die Frau, + **mit der** + ich spreche
sprechen mit + dative → Frau is feminine → mit der
- mit + Dat — die Frau → mit der
- für + Akk — der Mann → für den
- von + Dat — die Leute → von denen
When German uses was instead
After certain general words, use was
- etwas
- nichts
- alles
- das
- das Beste
Das Beste, was ich gesehen habe. — The best thing that I have seen.
1. the noun gives gender / number · 2. the relative clause gives case · 3. the verb goes to the end
Mann + subject → der · Mann + object → den · Mann + dative → dem.
Final full picture
Summary
- gender / number — comes from the noun before the comma (der Mann → masculine)
- case — comes from the role inside the clause (sehen → den)
- nominative — the relative pronoun is the subject (der dort steht)
- accusative — direct object (den ich sehe)
- dative — dative role / verb (dem ich helfe)
- preposition — comes before the pronoun (mit der ich spreche)
- word order — verb at the end (den ich sehe)
- was — after etwas / nichts / alles / das / das Beste … (das Beste, was …)
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