Relative Pronouns (Relativpronomen) 🔗

5. 🔗 Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns connect a main clause with a relative clause and refer back to a noun.

Used to connect two clauses and refer to a noun mentioned earlier (who, which, that).

Case	🟥 Masculine	🟦 Neuter	🟩 Feminine	🟨 Plural	🇬🇧 Example
👤 Nom.	der	das	die	die	The man/woman/thing who…
🎯 Akk.	den	das	die	die	I see the man/woman/thing who…
🎁 Dat.	dem	dem	der	denen	I give to the man/woman/thing who…
🧩 Gen.	dessen	dessen	deren	deren	The color of the man/woman/thing who…

🧠 The important rule

1. The gender and number come from the Noun before it.

2. But the Case comes from the relative clause.

Example:

Der Mann, den ich sehe, ist nett.

The man whom I see is nice.

• der Mann → masculine singular
• Ich sehe ___ → Akkusativ → den

flowchart LR
    N["📝 Noun<br/>der Mann"] -->|"Gender + Number"| R["🔗 Relative Pronoun"]
    C["📖 Relative Clause<br/>Ich sehe (akk)___"] -->|"Case"| R

    R --> X["den"]

    style N fill:#ffe5e5,stroke:#d00,color:#000
    style C fill:#e5f0ff,stroke:#1677ff,color:#000
    style R fill:#fff3cd,stroke:#e6a700,color:#000
    style X fill:#e8f8e8,stroke:#27ae60,color:#000

💬 Examples:

German	Why?	English
Der Mann, der hier arbeitet	Nom.	The man who works here
Der Mann, den ich sehe	Akk.	The man whom I see
Der Mann, dem ich helfe	Dat.	The man whom I help
Der Mann, dessen Auto neu ist	Gen.	The man whose car is new
Der Mann, der dort steht, ist mein Vater.	The man who is standing there is my father.
Das Auto, das ich gekauft habe, ist rot.	The car that I bought is red.
Die Frau, die hier arbeitet, ist meine Chefin.	The woman who works here is my boss.
Die Kinder, deren Mutter Lehrerin ist, spielen draußen.	The children whose mother is a teacher are playing outside.

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Related: Pronouns Overview · Relative Clauses · Sentence Structure