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German relative clauses, explained

A German relative clause starts with a relative pronoun that looks almost exactly like the definite article, ends with its verb, and is always set off by commas: Der Mann, der dort steht, ist mein Nachbar.

The pronoun takes its gender and number from the noun it refers to, and its case from its own job in the relative clause.

The essentials

Gender and number from the noun, case from the relative clause: der Film, den ich gesehen habe (accusative, because sehen takes an object).
The dative plural is denen, and the genitive is dessen or deren: die Kinder, denen ich helfe; die Frau, deren Auto kaputt ist.
A preposition comes before the pronoun: das Haus, in dem ich wohne.
The conjugated verb goes to the end of the relative clause.
After alles, etwas, nichts and das, use was: Das ist alles, was ich weiß.

Every lesson on this topic

Each lesson has a full explanation, examples you can listen to, and exercises with answers.

B1 (the B1 course)

Relative clauses: der, die, das, den: Describe a person or thing with a whole clause: the man who…, the book that…
Relative clauses with dem, denen, mit dem; wo and was: Relative pronouns in the dative and after prepositions, plus wo for places and was after alles, etwas, nichts.

In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised with questions that explain the rule when you slip, and brought back for review on later days.

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German relative clauses, explained

The essentials

Every lesson on this topic

B1 (the B1 course)

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