Table of Contents Chapter 23 23.2 What determines the gender, the number and the declination?
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Chapter 23: Relative clauses

  23.2 What determines the gender, the number and the declination?


When thinking about relative pronouns, we need to find the word, which determines the gender and the number of the relative pronoun. The declination is determined by the relative clause. Let's have a look at some examples to make it clearer.

Examples if the relative pronoun is direct object

a1) The man, that you see here, is a friend of my father.
a1) Der Mann, den du da siehst, ist ein Freund meines Vaters.

b1) The men, that you see here, are friends of my father.
b1) Die Männer, die du da siehst, sind Freunde meines Vaters.

c1) The woman, that you see here, is a friend of my father.
c) Die Frau, die du da siehst, ist eine Freundin meines Vaters.

d1) The women, that you see here, are friends of my mother.
d1) Die Frauen, die du da siehst, sind Freundinnen meiner Mutter.

Explication

  a1) The phrase a) is compound of two phrases  
Der Mann ist ein Freund meines Vaters.
Du siehst ihn da.

  These two phrases are combined by a relative pronoun
  Der Mann, den du da siehst, ist ein Freund meines Vaters.

Now we have to understand that the relative pronoun is den and no der, die or any other word. To determine the gender and the number we have to know to what the relative pronoun refers and in this case it is der Mann, which is third person singular masculine. To know the declination we have to know which function the relative pronoun has in this relative clause. In this case it is a direct object. Here it is asked Whom do you see? When we now remember what was said in the chapter about The declination in German we know that the Accusative of the third person singular in masculine is den.

  b1) The phrase b) is compound of two phrases  
Die Männer sind Freunde meines Vaters.
Du siehst sie da.
  If we put them together we get:
  Die Männer, die du da siehst, sind Freunde meines Vaters.

Basically there is no difference between this phrase and the phrase before. The only thing that has changed is the number, because now we have various men. The Accusative of the third person plural of the relative pronoun is die.

  c1) This phrase is compound of two phrases:  
Die Frau ist eine Freundin meines Vaters.
Du siehst sie da.
  If we put them together we get:
  Die Frau, die du da siehst, ist eine Freundin meines Vaters.

Now the relative pronoun refers to die Frau, which is evidently the third person singular feminine. The phrase has else not changed at all, the relative pronoun has the role of the direct object and therefore it is die.

  d1) This phrase is a combination of two phrases:  
Die Frauen sind Freundinnen meiner Mutter.
Du siehst sie da.

  And now we combine them to:
  Die Frauen, die du da siehst, sind Freundinnen meiner Mutters.

The only thing that has changed is the number, which is now plural. According to that what we have learnt in the chapter The declination in German the relative pronoun is die.

Examples with indirect object:

a2) The man, to whom I have given the car, is a friend of my father.
a2) Der Mann, dem ich das Auto geschenkt habe, ist ein Freund meines Vaters.

b2) The men, whom I have given the car, are friends of my father.
b2) Die Männer, denen ich das Auto geschenkt habe, sind Freunde meines Vaters.

c2) The woman, whom I have given the car, is a friend of my father.
c2) Die Frau, der ich das Auto geschenkt habe, ist eine Freundin meines Vaters.

d2) The women, whom I have given the car, are friends of my father.
d2) Die Frauen, denen ich das Auto geschenkt habe, sind Freundinnen meines Vaters.

Explication

  a2) This phrase is a combination of two phrases:  
Der Mann ist ein Freund meines Vaters.
Ich habe ihm ein Auto geschenkt.

  If we combine them with a relative pronoun we get:
  Der Mann, dem ich ein Auto geschenkt habe, ist ein Freund meines Vaters.

The main phrase is the same like in the examples with the direct object. What has changed is the relative clause, because now the relative pronoun substitutes an indirect object (ihm). The gender and the number (third person singular, masculine) have not changed. The only thing that has changed is the declination of the relative clause. Therefore it is now dem not den.

More examples

   The relative pronoun refers to the subject of the main clause
  Das Kind, das ein Buch liest, heißt Andrea. relative pronoun in Nominative
Das Kind, das ich sehe, heißt Andrea. relative pronoun in Accusative (direct object)
  Das Kind, dem ich eine Birne geschenkt habe, heißt Andrea. relative pronoun in
Dative (indirect object)
  Das Kind, dessen Mutter ich kenne, heißt Andrea. relative pronoun in
Genitive.
   The relative pronoun refers to the Dative-Object (indirect object) of the main phrase
  Er hat dem Kind, das ein Buch liest, einen Apfel geschenkt. relative pronoun in Nominative
  Er hat dem Kind, das ich sehe, einen Apfel geschenkt. relative pronoun in Accusative (direct object)
  Er hat dem Kind, dem ich schon eine Birne geschenkt habe, einen Apfel geschenkt. relative pronoun in Dative (indirect object)
  Er hat dem Kind, dessen Mutter ich kenne, einen Apfel geschenkt. relative pronoun in
Genitive
   The relative pronoun refers to the Accusative -object (direct object) of the main phrase
  Ich sehe das Kind, das ein Buch liest. relative pronoun in Nominative
  Ich sehe das Kind, das ich sehe. relative pronoun in Accusative (direct object)
  Ich sehe das Kind, dem ich eine Birne geschenkt habe. relative pronoun in Dative (indirect object)
  Ich sehe das Kind, dessen Mutter ich kenne. relative pronoun in
Genitive
   The relative pronoun refers tot the Genitive-object of the main phrase
  Das ist der Pullover des Kindes, das ein Buch liest. relative pronoun in Nominative
  Das ist der Pullover des Kindes, das ich sehe. relative pronoun in Accusative (direct object)
  Das ist der Pullover des Kindes, dem ich eine Birne geschenkt habe. relative pronoun in Dative (indirect object)
  Das ist der Pullover des Kindes, dessen Mutter ich kenne. relative pronoun in
Genitive

As we have shown with these examples, for the relative pronoun it does not have any importance in which declination the referred object is. The declination of the relative pronoun is only determined by the relative phrase. Concerning the gender and number the relative pronoun is determined by the object (subject) that it refers to. The relative clauses are the same independent on the declination of
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