Relativsätze (Relative Clauses)

A Relativsatz joins two related sentences into one by replacing a repeated noun with a relative pronoun (Relativpronomen), similar to English "who / which / that" clauses. German does not use question words (wer, was) the way English uses "who/which" for this — it uses a dedicated relative-pronoun table, and the conjugated verb always moves to the end of the clause (the same "verb-final" logic as every other subordinate clause).

• Ich habe einen Freund. Mein Freund lebt in Deutschland. → Ich habe einen Freund, der in Deutschland lebt. — "I have a friend who lives in Germany."
• Wir haben eine Familie besucht. Die Familie hat ihr Zuhause zu einem echten Smart Home gemacht. → Wir haben eine Familie besucht, die ihr Zuhause zu einem echten Smart Home gemacht hat. — "We visited a family who turned their home into a real smart home." (die refers back to the feminine Familie; the conjugated verb hat goes to the end)

This guide builds from the basic pronoun table up to the more advanced B1/B2 patterns (prepositions, was, wo/woher/wohin), consolidating material taught repeatedly across the course.

Relative Pronoun Table

The relative pronoun table is almost identical to the bestimmter Artikel (definite article) table, with exactly one difference: the dative plural.

Case	Maskulin	Neutrum	Feminin	Plural
Nominativ	der	das	die	die
Akkusativ	den	das	die	die
Dativ	dem	dem	der	denen

• The only deviation from the regular definite-article table is dative plural = denen (never den, which is the ordinary dative-plural article). This is the one form worth memorizing separately.
• There is no separate relative-pronoun table for the indefinite article — the one table above (definite-article-style) is used for every relative clause regardless of whether the antecedent was introduced with ein/eine or der/die/das.
• Word order: the conjugated verb always goes to the end of the relative clause, exactly like any other Nebensatz. Separable verbs (trennbare Verben) stay joined at the end — they are not split apart inside a relative clause: ...an dem ich heute teilnehme (not ...nehme ich an dem teil).

Identifying the Case: wer/was vs. wen/wem

Before picking a pronoun from the table, you need to know which case it must be in. Two complementary ways to find this are taught: the wer/was vs. wen/wem question-word logic, and the more mechanical three-step method below. Use whichever is faster for a given sentence.

• wer / was ("who / what") finds the subject of the clause. Whatever answers wer/was is always nominative — regardless of which verb is used. Always check this first.

  "Never think 'this is an accusative verb, this is a dative verb, so I'll write dative' — no, it does not work. First thing is always to figure out the nominative."

• wen / wem ("whom") finds the object — this can be accusative (wen) or dative (wem), depending on which case the verb governs.
• man is always nominative — it can never be accusative or dative. So once man is spotted inside a relative clause, the remaining empty slot must be the accusative/dative one.

Worked examples

1. Ich habe einen Freund, der in Deutschland lebt. — "I have a friend who lives in Germany." der = masculine nominative (the friend is the subject of lebt).
2. Ich habe einen Freund, den meine Schwester gestern getroffen hat. — "I have a friend whom my sister met yesterday." meine Schwester is the nominative subject; den (masc. accusative) refers to Freund, because treffen takes the accusative.
3. Ich helfe einem Jungen, den ich kenne. — "I am helping a boy whom I know." kennen takes the accusative → den.
4. Ich kenne den Jungen, dem ich geholfen habe. — "I know the boy whom I helped." helfen takes the dative → dem.
5. Ich habe einen Kuli gekauft, der teuer war. — "I bought a pen which was expensive." der = nominative, because sein takes no object — the pen itself is the subject of "was expensive."
6. Der Stift, den ich gestern gekauft habe, war teuer. — "The pen which I bought yesterday was expensive." den = accusative, because kaufen is transitive/accusative and the subject of the clause is ich, so the relative pronoun cannot be nominative here.
7. Das Buch, das mein Freund mir gegeben hat, war nicht hilfreich. — "The book which my friend gave me was not helpful." Step by step: first ask wer gab? ("who gave?") → mein Freund → nominative, role filled. The remaining pronoun (das) must be accusative or dative — checked against geben, a Wechselverb, so the PDTA rule applies (Person → Dativ, Thing → Akkusativ): das Buch (the thing) takes Akkusativ, mir (the person) takes Dativ. Neuter accusative = das.

The Wechselverb PDTA rule inside relative clauses

Verbs like geben that take both a person and a thing (Wechselverben) follow the same PDTA rule inside a relative clause as in a normal sentence: Person → Dativ, Thing → Akkusativ. This was the trickiest case type in the course's drills — always identify the nominative subject first, then assign the thing to accusative and the person to dative before choosing the pronoun.

The Three-Step Method

An alternative, more mechanical method for finding the right relative pronoun — useful whenever the English "who/whom" translation doesn't make the case obvious:

1. Find the common thing shared between the main clause and the relative clause (the noun being described).
2. Check the gender of that common thing from the first sentence (the main clause).
3. Check the case of the relative pronoun from the second sentence (the relative clause) — i.e. from how the common thing functions grammatically inside the relative clause (subject, object, or after a preposition).

"Find the common thing in both the sentences. Check gender from the house — that is the first sentence — and check the case from the second sentence."

Important: only the second (relative) clause determines the pronoun's case. Even if the main clause's own verb governs a case on the same noun (e.g. es gibt + Akkusativ), that case is irrelevant to the relative pronoun — the main clause is only used to identify the antecedent and its gender.

Worked examples

• Es gibt einen Platz, den ich besonders mag. — "There is a place that I especially like." Common thing: Platz (masculine). Case from clause 2: accusative (object of mag) → den.
• Dort ist auch das Café, das mein Freund kennt. — "There is also the café that my friend knows." Common thing: Café (neuter). Accusative (object of kennt) → das.
• Ich treffe meinen Cousin, der ganz in der Nähe wohnt. — "I'm meeting my cousin, who lives very close by." Nominative (subject of wohnt) → der.
• In der Nähe des Platzes ist eine große Grünfläche, die alle Kinder gern nutzen. — "Near the square there is a large green space that all children like to use." Feminine, accusative (object of nutzen) → die.
• Es gibt auch Geschäfte, die schöne und nützliche Dinge verkaufen. — "There are also shops that sell beautiful and useful things." Common thing: Geschäfte (plural). Using who/whom logic: shops can't be sold to here — shops do the selling, so Geschäfte is the subject → nominative → die (not denen). Confirming check: the verb ending -en signals a plural subject, and the verb always agrees with its subject.
• Ich lade meinen Onkel ein, dem mein Freund gratuliert. — "I'm inviting my uncle, whom my friend is congratulating." gratulieren takes the dative → dem.
• Das sind die Kinder, denen ich gratuliere. — "These are the children whom I am congratulating." Dative plural (gratulieren + Dativ) → denen. Contrast: Das sind die Kinder, die Eis essen. — "These are the children who are eating ice cream" — here the same antecedent is nominative (subject of essen) → die, not denen — the same noun can take a different pronoun depending on its role in the second clause.

Choosing between two possible antecedents: match the gender, not just the meaning

When more than one noun in the main clause could plausibly be "the common thing," the grammatical gender must match the pronoun actually used — not just whichever noun feels most intuitive.

• Die Küche ist der zentrale Raum, den die Bewohner sich in Zukunft teilen werden. — "The kitchen is the central room that the residents will share in the future." Although Küche ("kitchen") seems like the natural shared idea, the sentence uses den, which is masculine. Die Küche is feminine, but der Raum ("room") is masculine — so Raum, not Küche, is the antecedent the pronoun is pointing back to. (If you were writing your own original sentence rather than matching a given one, choosing Küche as the shared noun would also be valid German — but once a specific pronoun is given, its gender dictates the antecedent.)

Word order: pronoun before noun

When a clause contains both a personal/reflexive pronoun and a noun (common after combining clauses with a relative pronoun), the standard preference is: personal pronoun → reflexive pronoun → noun.

• sich die Bewohner (reflexive before noun) is preferred over die Bewohner sich — both are technically grammatical, but the pronoun-first order is the natural default.
• If a personal pronoun replaces the noun (e.g. Bewohner → sie), the order becomes sie sich (personal pronoun before reflexive pronoun).

Relative Clauses with Prepositions

When the relative clause's verb is a fixed-preposition verb (or simply needs a preposition to express the relationship), the preposition determines the case directly, and it is placed right before the relative pronoun: [preposition] + [pronoun in the case that preposition requires].

• Er ist mein Freund, mit dem ich gestern über das Wetter gesprochen habe. — "He is my friend with whom I spoke about the weather yesterday." sprechen mit (+ Dativ); gender from sentence 1 (Freund, masculine) + case from mit (dative) → mit dem.
• Sie ist meine Freundin, auf die ich hier warte. — "She is my friend for whom I'm waiting here." warten auf (+ Akkusativ) → feminine + accusative → auf die.
• Ich rede mit meinem Freund, bei dem ich mich gestern entschuldigt habe. — "I'm talking to my friend, whom I apologized to yesterday." sich entschuldigen bei (+ Dativ) → bei dem.
• Mein Kurs beginnt um 8 Uhr, an dem ich heute teilnehme. — "My class starts at 8 o'clock, in which I am participating today." teilnehmen an (+ Dativ) → an dem. Note: teilnehmen is a separable verb but stays joined at the end of the Nebensatz: ...an dem ich heute teilnehme (not split).
• Es gibt eine Party am Montag, auf die ich mich freue. — "There is a party on Monday to which I am looking forward." sich freuen auf (+ Akkusativ) → feminine + accusative → auf die.
• Ich habe ein Geschenk bekommen, über das ich mich sehr freue. — "I've gotten a gift about which I am very happy." sich freuen über (+ Akkusativ) → neuter + accusative → über das.
• Wir brauchen Politiker, denen man vertrauen kann. — "We need politicians whom one can trust." vertrauen (+ Dativ) → dative plural → denen.
• Wir brauchen einen Freilichtmuseum, für das sich besonders Touristen interessieren. — "We need an open-air museum that tourists in particular are interested in." sich interessieren für (+ Akkusativ).
• Wir brauchen einen Bürgermeister, dem wir unsere Probleme berichten können. — "We need a mayor to whom we can report our problems." Wechselverb-style dative: the person (mayor) is dative, the thing reported is accusative.

A verb does not need to already be a fixed-preposition verb to take this construction — a preposition can be attached to any verb in a relative clause wherever it captures the intended relationship:

• Außerdem werden in den Städten mehr Parks und Grünflächen entstehen, durch die sich die Lebensqualität der Menschen verbessert. — "...more parks and green spaces will emerge, through which people's quality of life improves." (sich verbessern has no fixed preposition of its own, but durch die is added to express "by means of which.")

Why the relative pronoun after a preposition is never nominative

German prepositions fall into three groups: accusative prepositions (für, um, durch, bis...), dative prepositions (von, aus, nach, zu, bei, mit...), and Wechselpräpositionen (an, auf, hinter, unter...) — there is no category of "nominative preposition."

Consequence: whenever a relative pronoun follows a preposition, its case can never be nominative — it must be accusative, dative, or (for Wechsel-prepositions) decided by movement vs. location, but never nominative, because the preposition is what's determining the case, and no preposition governs the nominative.

Relative Clauses with "was"

Rule: use was instead of der/das/die/denen when the antecedent has no grammatical gender — i.e. it is not a concrete noun with an article. This happens in two situations:

1. The antecedent is an indefinite pronoun: alles, etwas, nichts, manches, vieles (and similar words). These have no der/das/die gender, so they cannot be slotted into the regular relative-pronoun table.
2. The relative clause refers back to the entire preceding clause/sentence (the whole idea or fact), rather than to one specific noun.

Important restriction: was is never used for persons. Nouns like Mann, Frau, Herr, Kind, Vater always have an article/gender and always take the regular der/das/die pronoun, never was.

Of the three relative-clause patterns in this guide (basic der/das/die table, preposition + pronoun, and was), was-clauses are the simplest — no case-tracking is needed. Just check whether the antecedent is one of the indefinite pronouns, or whether the clause refers to the whole previous sentence, write was, and send the verb to the end.

Worked examples — indefinite pronoun antecedent

• Alles, was er gesagt hat, ist wahr. — "Everything he said is true."
• Nichts, was heute passiert ist, ist überraschend. — "Nothing that happened today is surprising."
• Vieles, was er gesagt hat, macht mich traurig. — "A lot of what he said makes me sad."
• Ich sehe etwas, was du nicht siehst. — "I see something that you don't see."
• Ich habe alles verstanden, was du heute erklärt hast. — "I have understood everything you explained today."
• Alles, was man zum Leben braucht, gibt es hier. — "Everything you need for life is available here."
• Für meine Freunde gab es dort aber fast nichts, was ihnen gefallen hat. — "But for my friends there was almost nothing that they liked."

Worked examples — referring to a whole preceding clause

• Mein Freund kommt heute, was mich glücklich macht. — "My friend is coming today, which makes me happy." Here was refers to the whole fact "my friend is coming today," not to Freund itself. Contrast with Mein Freund, der heute kommt, macht mich glücklich, where der refers specifically to Freund (which has a gender).
• Ich habe heute einen Computer gekauft, was mich glücklich macht. — "I bought a computer today, which makes me happy" — referring to the whole action of buying, not to Computer alone.
• In Berlin kann man viel unternehmen, was super ist. — "In Berlin you can do a lot, which is great."
• Am Abend haben wir ein paar Clubs gefunden und besucht, was sie super fanden. — "In the evening we found and visited a few clubs, which they thought was great."
• Das, was ich ihnen gezeigt habe, fanden sie langweilig. — "What I showed them, they found boring."

Side note: viel vs. viele vs. vieles

• viel + uncountable noun: Ich habe viel Zeit. / Ich habe viel Geld. — no -e/-er ending, even though Zeit is feminine; money/time are treated as uncountable mass nouns here.
• viele + countable noun: Ich habe viele Kulis. — "I have a lot of pens."
• vieles standing alone, with no following noun: Ich habe vieles. — "I have a lot." Used alone (not attached to a noun) it is always vieles, never viele.

Don't confuse "da" with a relative pronoun

In running text, da can appear in verb-final clauses that look similar to relative clauses but is actually a causal connector ("since/because"), not a relative pronoun:

• Aber ich suche noch eine tolle Wohnung, da ich für ein paar Jahre bleiben kann. — "But I'm still looking for a great apartment, since I can stay for a few years." (da = causal "since," not a relative pronoun — context, not word order, is what distinguishes the two, since both send the verb to the end.)

Relative Clauses with "wo / woher / wohin"

Rule: relative clauses referring to a place can use wo / woher / wohin as an alternative to a preposition + relative pronoun construction — similar to English "where," "from where," "to where." These three words are used only with places.

Word	Meaning	Logic
wo	stationary location ("where")	parallel to SDMA: Stationary → Dativ
wohin	direction of movement ("to where")	parallel to Movement → Akkusativ
woher	origin / place of exit ("from where")	matches aus/von + Dativ

The choice depends on movement vs. location vs. origin in the relative clause itself — not on tense. The same idea can usually be phrased either with a preposition + relative pronoun, or with wo/wohin/woher; both are correct, it's a style choice.

Worked examples

• Wir gehen in das neue Restaurant, in dem es Sushi gibt. (no movement in "there being sushi" → Wechselpräposition in + dative → in dem) = Wir gehen in das neue Restaurant, wo es Sushi gibt. — "...where there is sushi." (both correct)
• Das ist das Restaurant, in das ich gehe. (movement → accusative) = Das ist das Restaurant, wohin ich gehe. — "This is the restaurant (to) where I am going."
• Das ist das Restaurant, woher ich komme. — "This is the restaurant I am coming from." (place of exit/origin, from Ich komme von dem Restaurant.)
• Das ist das Haus, wo wir seit 10 Jahren gewohnt haben. = ..., in dem wir seit 10 Jahren gewohnt haben. — "This is the house where we have lived for 10 years." (no movement — just living somewhere — so only wo or the preposition form work here; woher/wohin would both be wrong.)
• Das ist das Café, wo ich am Montag meinen Freund treffen werde. — "This is the café where I will meet my friend on Monday." Even in future tense, wo is correct, because meeting at the café is a stationary event, not a movement described by the relative clause itself — tense never changes the wo/wohin/woher choice.

Source Videos

• video-11-notes.md — early relative-clause exposure inside a genitive-heavy "Smartes Wohnen" reading text (die ihr Zuhause... gemacht hat), previewing the wer-construction before the formal grammar topic was introduced.
• video-25-notes.md — formal introduction to Relativsätze: the relative pronoun table, verb-at-the-end word order, identifying nominative via wer/was vs. accusative/dative via wen/wem, and the PDTA Wechselverb rule (geben) inside a relative clause.
• video-26-notes.md — the three-step method (common thing → gender from sentence 1 → case from sentence 2), the "man is always nominative" rule, relative clauses with fixed-preposition verbs (mit dem, auf die, bei dem, an dem, über das), and why no preposition governs the nominative.
• video-27-notes.md — choosing the correct antecedent by matching gender (not just meaning), pronoun-before-noun word order, and further fixed-preposition-verb relative clauses (denen man vertrauen kann, für das sich Touristen interessieren).
• video-44-notes.md — recap of the pronoun table and preposition-based relative clauses, then the new B1/B2 patterns: relative clauses with was (indefinite pronouns and whole-clause reference) and relative clauses with wo/woher/wohin for places, plus the viel/viele/vieles side note and distinguishing causal da from a relative pronoun.