Relative clauses: der, die, das or den?
Describe a person or thing with a relative clause. Its pronoun matches the noun’s gender and number, but its case comes from its job inside the relative clause.
Compare der Fahrer, der wartet and der Fahrer, den ich kenne. In the first clause the driver does the waiting, so der is nominative. In the second, ich is the subject and the driver is the accusative object of kenne, so use den.
Do not copy the case of the noun in the main clause: Ich sehe den Fahrer, der wartet. The main clause has den Fahrer as object; the relative clause has der as subject. Gender and number still refer to the same driver.
Feminine die, neuter das and plural die have the same forms in nominative and accusative. That does not mean those cases are identical in function. In die Pakete, die wir verschicken, wir is the subject and die is the object.
Put the conjugated verb at the end of the relative clause. Separate the clause with commas; use two when the main clause continues after it. This first topic covers nominative and accusative. Dative, genitive and prepositional relative clauses need further patterns.
| Form | Beispiel |
|---|---|
| Maskulin | Nominativ der · Akkusativ den |
| Feminin | Nominativ die · Akkusativ die |
| Neutrum | Nominativ das · Akkusativ das |
| Plural | Nominativ die · Akkusativ die |
Examples
Das ist der Fahrer, der draußen wartet.
That is the driver who is waiting outside.
The driver is the subject of wartet: der.
Das ist der Fahrer, den ich angerufen habe.
That is the driver whom I phoned.
Ich is the subject; the driver is the accusative object of anrufen: den.
Die Rechnung, die auf dem Tisch liegt, ist bezahlt.
The bill that is on the table has been paid.
The inserted relative clause is enclosed by two commas.
Die Pakete, die wir heute verschicken, sind schwer.
The parcels that we are sending today are heavy.
Plural die is the object of verschicken; wir is the subject.