A clause that describes a noun
A relative clause describes a noun with a whole clause: der Kollege, der neu ist, die Frau, die ich gestern getroffen habe. It starts with a relative pronoun, and the conjugated verb goes to the end, as after weil and dass.
Das ist der Mann, der dort steht.
That's the man who is standing over there.
The man does the standing: Nominativ.
Das ist der Mann, den ich kenne.
That's the man I know.
The man is the one being known: Akkusativ.
The forms are the articles
Relative pronouns: Nominativ and Akkusativ
| Case | masculine | feminine | neuter | plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | der | die | das | die |
| Akkusativ | den | die | das | die |
The same as the definite articles.
Only the masculine differs: der or den. For feminine, neuter and plural nouns Nominativ and Akkusativ are the same word, so you cannot go wrong.
Die Frau, die nebenan wohnt, ist Ärztin.
The woman who lives next door is a doctor.
Das Buch, das du mir geliehen hast, war super.
The book you lent me was great.
Die Leute, die hier arbeiten, sind sehr nett.
The people who work here are very nice.
Gender from outside, case from inside
Gender and number: the noun before the comma
der Mann gives a masculine pronoun, die Kinder a plural one.
Case: the job inside the clause
Is the pronoun the subject or the object of the verb in its own clause?
Two sentences become one
The test: say the second sentence on its own with er, ihn, sie or es. The case of that little pronoun is the case of the relative pronoun. Er wartet gives der. Ich kenne ihn gives den.
Where the clause stands
The relative clause stands directly behind its noun. In the middle of a sentence it is closed by a second comma, and the main clause carries on.
Die Wohnung, die wir gefunden haben, ist ziemlich klein.
The flat we found is quite small.
In the middle: two commas.
Ich suche einen Kurs, der abends stattfindet.
I'm looking for a course that takes place in the evening.
At the end: one comma.
Kennst du den Kollegen, den sie nächste Woche einstellen?
Do you know the colleague they're hiring next week?
A separable verb is joined again at the end.
