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Relative Pronouns & Relative Clauses - Intermediate German with Herr Antrim #9
In the last two grammar lessons, I talked about subordinating conjunctions,
but these words aren’t the only things
that can affect the word order of a clause.
There are also relative pronouns.
This pronouns look almost always like the definite articles,
but sometimes they are strange.
Today I will show them to you and explain how, when and why to use them.
Relative pronouns, like all pronouns, replace nouns.
In order to use a relative pronoun, you must first name the noun in the sentence.
After that you can describe this noun with a relative clause.
Relative clauses are also called “Bezugssätze” (reference clauses),
because they reference the previously named noun.
While subordinate clauses must be either at the beginning or end of a sentence,
relative clauses can be anywhere in the sentence.
They simply have to be next to the noun, to which they refer.
For example: In the last sentence I used the relative pronouns “das”.
“Das” refers back to the noun “Substantiv”
and the relative clause “auf das sie beziehen” gives more information about this noun.
The verb in the relative clause is at the end of the clause.
Relative pronouns have to agree with gender and case.
It doesn’t matter how the noun itself is being used.
It is only important how the relative pronoun is being used in the relative clause.
In order to show you this, I will show you a few example sentences, which are very similar.
The dog, which ran away, is called Struppi.
In this relative clause the relative pronoun is being used as the subject.
Therefore it is in the nominative case.
In order to make this simpler, you can take these sentences apart.
The dog is called Struppi. He ran away.
The dog, which ran away, is called Struppi.
The dog, which we got yesterday, is called Struppi.
In this relative clause, the relative pronoun is used as the direct object.
Therefore it is accusative.
If you take these clauses apart, they are:
The dog is called Struppi. We got him yesterday.
The dog, which we got yesterday, is called Struppi.
The dog, whom we gave a bone, is called Struppi.
In this relative clause, the relative pronoun is being used as an indirect object.
Therefore it is dative.
If you take apart these clauses, they are:
The dog is called Struppi. We gave him a bone.
The dog, whom we gave a bone, is called Struppi.
The dog, whose hair is brown, is called Struppi.
In this relative clause, the relative pronoun is being used as a genitive object.
Therefore it is genitive.
If you take these clauses apart, they are:
The dog is called Struppi. His hair is brown.
The dog, whose hair is brown, is called Struppi.
As I have already done in this video, you can also use prepositions with relative pronouns.
They simply have to be next to the noun, to which they refer.
Then the relative pronoun is used in the case according to the preposition. For example:
The woman, for whom the boy is doing the garden work, is on vacation.
“Für” requires the accusative case. Therefore “die” is in the accusative case.
The woman, with whom I am currently working, is very hard working.
“Mit” requires the dative case. Therefore “der” is in the dative case.
As I have already said, most of the relative pronouns look exactly like the definite articles,
but in the dative plural the relative pronoun is “denen” instead of “den”
and the relative pronoun in genitive are all different from the definite articles.
For masculine and neuter relative pronouns in the genitive case, we use “dessen”.
For feminine relative pronouns and plural relative pronouns in the genitive case, we use “deren”.
If you like charts, I have one for you here.
And now more examples:
I like your new shoes, whose shoelaces are pink.
The doctor measures my pulse with a stethoscope that he got out of the refrigerator.
I need shoes with which I can run faster.
The examples that I have already shown are simplified sentences,
so that you can see how one can form relative clauses.
You can use more than one relative pronoun in a sentence
or even a relative clause in another relative clause.
Because we already know something about these pronouns,
I will now show some more complicated examples.
The woman who is walking around, whose dog ran away is still looking for the dog, who is following the woman.
The child, whom we had already given two pieces of chocolate, came back
in order to get more chocolate from my wife, who has a soft heart.
If the ones who want in don’t let the ones who want out out,
then the ones who want out can’t let the ones who want in in.
The man, who divorced his wife yesterday,
bought his son, whom the man and his ex-wife had together,
a new car, with which the son can drive to school
and whose wheels light up while driving, for his birthday.
You can take this sentence apart like this.
The man bought his son a new car for his birthday.
The man got divorced from his wife yesterday.
The man and his ex-wife had the son together.
The son can drive with the new car to school.
The wheels of the new car light up while driving.
No one would say something like this,
but this type of sentence show you how you can use relative pronouns.
I hope this video helped you
to better understand the relative pronouns and relative clauses.
If you still have questions, you can write them in the comments.
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Until next time. Bye.