Ch 13: Sparks And Vail German Grammar - Relative Pronouns And Relative Clauses

Front 1

In German most of the forms of the relative pronoun are identical to those of the definite article. Note, however, five exceptions.

Back 1

DATIVE: pl. - denen
GENITIVE: m. sing - dessen; n. sing - dessen; f. sing. - deren; pl. - deren;

Front 2

Three rules for relative pronouns: (i) word order, (ii) gender and number, (iii) case.

Back 2

(i) relative clauses are subordinate clauses so conjugated word comes at the end of the clause; (ii) gender and number of a relative pronoun is the same as it antecedent; (iii) the case of a relative pronoun depends on its function in the relative clause.

Front 3

trans: That is the man who bought our house.

Back 3

Das is der man, der unser Haus gekauft hat.

Front 4

trans: That is the man we saw yesterday.

Back 4

Das is der man, den wir gestern gesehen haben.

Front 5

trans: That is the man whose help you need.

Back 5

Das is der man, dessen Hilfe du brauchst.

Front 6

trans: The man you're looking for just left. [Sie]

Back 6

Der Mann, den Sie suchen, ist gerade weggegangen. [Note: German relative pronouns come immediately after their antecedents in the main clause, unless only one word would follow the relative clause.]

Front 7

trans: Have you seen the man who was just here?

Back 7

Hast du den Mann gesehen, der gerade hier war? [Note: German relative pronouns come immediately after their antecedents in the main clause, unless only one word would follow the relative clause (as in this example).]

Front 8

trans: That is the man who I was thinking of.

Back 8

Das ist der Mann, an den ich gedacht habe. [Note: a German relative pronoun is normally the first element in its clause, except when it is the object of a preposition (as in this example).]

Front 9

trans: That is the man I mean.

Back 9

Das ist der Mann, den ich meine. [Note: Relative pronouns are never omitted in German.]

Front 10

trans: That's the best we have.

Back 10

Das ist das Beste, was wir haben.
[Note: "was" is used as a relative pronoun when an antecedent is a neuter superlative adjective used as a noun.] {was: neuter superlative adj., quantity/ordinal pronoun, or a whole clause}

Front 11

trans: Everything that he said was interesting.

Back 11

Alles, was er sagte, war interessant. [Note: "was" is used as a relative pronoun when an antecedent is a neuter pronoun indicating quantity (e.g. alles, vieles, manches, etwas, wenig, nichts).] {was: neuter superlative adj., quantity pronoun, ordinal, or a whole clause}

Front 12

trans: That's the first [thing] we have to buy.

Back 12

Das ist das Erste, was wir kaufen mu:ssen. [Note: "was" is used as a relative pronoun when an antecedent is a neuter ordinal.] {was: neuter superlative adj., quantity pronoun, ordinal, or a whole clause}

Front 13

trans: Karl doesn't want to come along, which is very unusual.

Back 13

Karl will nicht mitkommen, was sehr ungewo:hnlich ist. [Note: "was" is used as a relative pronoun when an antecedent is a whole clause (rather than a single element in the main clause).] {was: neuter superlative adj., quantity pronoun, ordinal, or a whole clause}

Front 14

trans: He lives in Vienna now, where it is going well for him.

Back 14

Er wohnt jetzt in Wien, wo es ihm sehr gut geht. ["wo" must be used, instead of a relative pronoun, when the antecedent is a place name (i.e. the proper name of a city, state, country or continent).]

Front 15

trans: Do you know what that is?

Back 15

Wissen Sie, was das ist? [Note: when the unnamed antecedent is a thing, the appropriate form of the interrogative pronoun "was" must be used.]

Front 16

trans: Do you know what he was asking about?

Back 16

Wissen Sie, wonach er gefragt hat? [Note: When was is the object of a preposition, a special wo(r)-compound construction is used. "Wo-" is used if the preposition begins with a consonant: wonach, wofu:r, wozu, etc.; "wor-" is used if the preposition begins with a vowel: woran, worauf, woru:ber, etc.]

Front 17

trans: Yes, I know exactly what he was thinking of.

Back 17

Ja, ich weiss ganz genau, woran er gedacht hat. [Note: When was is the object of a preposition, a special wo(r)-compound construction is used. "Wo-" is used if the preposition begins with a consonant: wonach, wofu:r, wozu, etc.; "wor-" is used if the preposition begins with a vowel: woran, worauf, woru:ber, etc.]

Front 18

trans: Anybody who comes too late will miss the train.

Back 18

Wer zu spät kommt, wird den Zug verpassen. ["wer" is used where English would say "anyone who" or "whoever"]

Front 19

trans: What he said was very interesting.

Back 19

Was er sagte, war sehr interessant. ["was" can mean "what" in the sense of "that which"]