Relative clauses
Relativsätze
Relative clauses (Relativsätze) are subordinate clauses that describe a noun and start with a relative pronoun: der, den, dem, dessen.
“Der Mann, den ich sehe” — why den? English uses one word for everything (who · whom · that). German picks the pronoun by gender and by the job it does inside the clause.
Right now: two questions, two different places
This page is a collision of two things: the case table and the subordinate clause that sends the verb to the end. If either one has not settled yet, go back there first.
ShortcutThe relative pronoun = the article itself. It differs in only two places: Dativ plural denen and Genitiv dessen / deren. The rest is a table you already know.
You want to say: “The man standing over there is my brother.” German does not say it in one piece. It splits it in two — first the man, then the description hung on behind him.
Der Mann, der dort steht, ist mein Bruder.
The man who is standing over there is my brother.
Three things happen at once in this sentence, and you need to see all three: (1) there is a comma, (2) the pronoun der appears, (3) the verb steht jumps to the end of the clause. All three are compulsory.
- GENDER + NUMBER from the noun in the main clause der Mann → der · die Frau → die
- CASE from the job inside the relative clause subject? object? to whom?
- VERB always at the end AND THE COMMA IS COMPULSORY
English is halfway there — but it has only one word for it
Good news: English also puts the description after the noun — the man who comes · the book I read · the woman I talk to. German does the same thing, but it needs a separate pronoun that agrees with the noun, and the verb goes last.
| English | Position | German |
|---|---|---|
| the man who comes | after the noun | der Mann, der kommt |
| the book (that) I read | after the noun | das Buch, das ich lese |
| the woman I talk to | the preposition trails at the end | die Frau, mit der ich spreche → the preposition moves to the front |
English gets away with who / that / nothing at all. German has a table with sixteen cells, and you can never leave the pronoun out. That is where the difficulty comes from: in English you choose almost nothing, in German you choose every time.
Practical consequence: if you translate word for word from English, the pronoun goes missing and the preposition ends up in the wrong place. The reflex to build: say the noun, stop, put a comma, choose the pronoun, add the description, and put the verb last.
The table: sixteen cells, and most of them you already know
The relative pronoun table is almost identical to the definite article table. Only a few cells differ — I have marked them.
| Case | der (masc.) | die (fem.) | das (neut.) | die (plural) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominativ who / what | der | die | das | die |
| Akkusativ whom / what | den | die | das | die |
| Dativ to whom | dem | der | dem | denen |
| Genitiv whose | dessen | deren | dessen | deren |
Apart from the five marked cells, the table is identical to the article table. So the new material to memorise is denen · dessen · deren — three words.
Now, how to use the table. The main clause picks the column, the relative clause picks the row. The same noun gets three different pronouns in three different relative clauses:
Der Mann, der dort steht, …
He is standing there → subject → Nominativ.
Der Mann, den ich kenne, …
I know him → object → Akkusativ.
Der Mann, dem ich helfe, …
I’m helping him → Dativ (helfen takes the Dativ).
In all three sentences the noun is der Mann — masculine, singular. The column never changed. The only thing that changed is the row: what the man does inside the relative clause.
The one place people go wrong
Taking the case from the main clause
This is the most common mistake, and nearly everyone makes it. The noun is in the Akkusativ in the main clause, so you assume the pronoun is Akkusativ too. It has nothing to do with it. The case in the main clause does not matter to the relative clause at all.
Ich kenne den Mann, den dort steht.
The noun is Akkusativ in the main clause, so den was used — wrong.
Ich kenne den Mann, der dort steht.
In the relative clause the man IS STANDING, so he is the subject → der.
How to check: read the relative clause as a sentence on its own. “… er steht dort” → er is Nominativ, so der. “… ich kenne ihn” → ihn is Akkusativ, so den.
Forgetting the preposition
If the verb in the relative clause needs a preposition, that preposition goes in front of the pronoun, and it decides the case. English lets the preposition dangle at the end (“the woman I talk to”), so it keeps getting dropped.
Die Frau, die ich spreche, …
sprechen needs “mit” — the preposition is missing.
Die Frau, mit der ich spreche, …
The woman I’m talking to. — mit takes the Dativ → der.
Das Thema, über das wir reden, …
The topic we’re talking about. — über takes the Akkusativ here.
Which verb takes which preposition is laid out in a table on the verb + preposition page. You will not get out of this trap without that table.
Leaving out the comma
In German a relative clause is always set off with a comma. There is no English-style choice between a comma and none (“the book that I read” vs. “the book, which I read”). In a written exam, this costs you points directly.
Das ist das Buch das ich lese.
No comma.
Das ist das Buch, das ich lese.
This is the book I’m reading.
dessen and deren: the “whose” question
English has one word for it: whose (“the man whose car is broken”). German has two, and after either of them no article follows.
| Noun | Pronoun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine · neuter | dessen | Der Mann, dessen Auto kaputt ist, … — the man whose car is broken |
| feminine · plural | deren | Die Frau, deren Sohn hier wohnt, … — the woman whose son lives here |
Careful: the choice depends on the gender of the owner, not of the thing owned. Der Mann, dessen Tochter… — “daughter” is feminine, but the owner is masculine, so it is still dessen.
Die Frau, deren der Sohn hier wohnt.
No article after deren.
Die Frau, deren Sohn hier wohnt.
The woman whose son lives here.
The part nobody tells you: the clause that lands in the middle of the sentence
Textbooks always show the relative clause at the end of the sentence, because that is easy. In real German it often lands in the middle and splits the main clause in two — that is the real difficulty. (English does this too: “The man who is standing there is my brother.”)
Der Mann, der dort steht, ist mein Bruder.
The main verb ist comes AFTER the relative clause.
The rule here: the relative clause does not count as a slot. Der Mann is in the first slot, the inserted clause is a parenthesis, and when it closes the verb carries on as normal in the second slot.
Der Mann, der dort steht, er ist mein Bruder.
The subject was repeated — wrong.
This structure is hard when you speak: you start the sentence, squeeze a description in the middle, and then you have to remember the main verb. That is why Germans pause briefly when they speak. You can pause too — it is not a mistake, it is rhythm.
Escape route in conversation: split the sentence in two. Da steht ein Mann. Das ist mein Bruder. Correct German, zero risk. But in a written exam the relative clause is a structure that earns points — don’t dodge it there.
What you just learned
The man I see: Der Mann, _____ ich sehe.
Show the answer
den — Because sehen takes the Akkusativ, the relative pronoun is den instead of der.
In relative clauses (Relativsätze) the verb always comes at the very beginning of the clause.
Show the answer
False — Relative clauses are subordinate clauses (Nebensätze), so the conjugated verb always goes to the very end.
Der Mann, ___ Auto kaputt ist, wartet draußen.
Show the answer
dessen. “The man whose car…” — the owner is masculine, so dessen. No article follows: dessen Auto, not dessen das Auto.
What to do this week
This topic sticks by joining two sentences, not by memorising a table. Five minutes a day:
- Write two short sentences: Ich habe einen Freund. Er wohnt in Berlin.
- Find the repeated word in the second one (er) and work out its case — here Nominativ.
- Pick the pronoun from the table: masculine + Nominativ → der.
- Join them and throw the verb to the end: Ich habe einen Freund, der in Berlin wohnt.
- Now break the pair and change the second sentence: Ich kenne ihn → …, den ich kenne. · Ich helfe ihm → …, dem ich helfe.
Next up is the infinitive with zu: the second way to lengthen a sentence without a conjunction — um … zu and friends.
Build the sentence yourself
Tap the words and put them in order. This is the hardest part of German — and there are no options to pick from, you build it.
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tap the words
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tap the words
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tap the words
Know this before the test
The core of the topic in three lines, then the mistakes people make most often.
- Gender from the front, case from the back
The relative pronoun takes its gender from the noun it describes and its case from its own job inside the relative clause. Ask two separate questions: which gender, which job.
der Mann, der dort steht (subject) · der Film, den wir sahen (object)
- A verb that takes the Dativ pulls the pronoun with it
If the verb in the relative clause takes the Dativ (helfen · danken · gehören), the relative pronoun is Dativ too — in the plural, denen.
die Frau, der ich helfe · die Kinder, denen ich half
- Possession: dessen and deren
For sentences like “the man whose car is broken” you use a possessive pronoun: dessen for masculine/neuter, deren for feminine and plural. The noun that follows has no article.
der Mann, dessen Auto kaputt ist · die Frau, deren Mann Arzt ist
- alles · etwas · nichts → was
After indefinite words the relative pronoun is was. If a preposition is needed, you use the prepositional form, like über das · mit dem.
alles, was du sagst · das Thema, über das wir sprachen
Der Mann, den dort steht, …
Der Mann, der dort steht, …
The pronoun is the subject of the relative clause, so it must be Nominativ. The masculine Akkusativ (den) only appears when the pronoun is the object.
Der Mann, dem sein Auto kaputt ist, …
Der Mann, dessen Auto kaputt ist, …
The dem sein pattern you hear in casual speech is not accepted in writing; possession is built with dessen.
Der Mann, der dort steht, er ist mein Bruder.
Der Mann, der dort steht, ist mein Bruder.
The relative clause is inserted, but it does not use up the subject; repeating the subject in the main clause is a mistake.
alles, das du sagst
alles, was du sagst
alles is an indefinite word; it is followed by was.
Test yourself
Tap an answer — we will look at why together.
Ich kenne den Mann, dort steht.
I know the man who is standing there.
Das ist die Frau, ich helfe.
helfen = to help
Die Kinder, ich ein Buch gegeben habe, sind weg.
The children I gave a book to have gone.
Der Mann, Auto kaputt ist, wartet draußen.
The man whose car is broken is waiting outside.
Das ist das Thema, wir gestern gesprochen haben.
das Thema = the topic
Which one is correct?
Practice done — –
To finish the topic, take the full test: score 60% and it is marked as done on your level path.
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Relativsätze worksheet
This whole page — tables, traps, examples — as one PDF. Download it, print it, run through it before the exam.
Related topics
Akkusativ & Dativ
the full article table
Accusative vs dative: what actually changes, and what never moves at all.
weil · dass · wenn
weil ich müde bin
weil, dass and wenn are German subordinating conjunctions: they start a subordinate clause and send the conjugated verb to the end (weil ich müde …
Verb + preposition
Ich warte auf dich
warten auf, denken an — the preposition a verb demands, plus wo(r)-/da(r)-.