In this lesson I will explain all about relative pronouns in German, how they sound in all cases in German and how they are used, I will also explain how to build relative clauses in German.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!CONTENTS
Types of relative pronouns
Relative clause/ Der Relativsatz
How do we choose the right relative pronoun?
Relative clauses relating to NOUN
Relative clauses relating to PRONOUN
Relative clauses that refer to the WHOLE SENTENCE
Types of relative pronouns
der, die das, die
welcher, welche, welches, welche
wer, was
DEKLINATION
These pronouns are most often used, especially in spoken language:
CASE | MASCULINE | FEMININE | NEUTER | PLURAL |
Nominative | der | die | das | die |
Accusative | den | die | das | die |
Dative | dem | der | dem | denen |
Genitive | dessen | deren | dessen | deren |
The pronoun welche has the same endings as the relative pronoun der, die das, only the genitive forms of this pronoun welche are no longer used, but are replaced by the forms of the pronoun der, die, das.
CASE | MASCULINE | FEMININE | NEUTER | PLURAL |
Nominative | welcher | welche | welches | welche |
Accusative | welchen | welche | welches | welche |
Dative | welchem | welcher | welchem | welchen/denen |
Genitive | dessen | deren | dessen | deren |
The pronoun wer marks persons, was refers to indefinite pronouns, superlative neuter adjectives, indefinite numbers and the whole sentence. I will write about these pronouns in more detail later.
Nominative | wer | was |
Accusative | wessen | wessen |
Dative | wem | / |
Genitive | wen | was |
Click on:
Grammar Contents
Relative Clause/ Der Relativsatz
A relative clause can be used to describe a person or thing more precisely. You don’t have to start a new sentence . It can refer to a noun, a pronoun or an entire sentence.

The word “Freundin” is a noun that can be referred to by a relative pronoun. In this context, the noun appears in the main clause, while the pronoun that describes it is found in the relative clause. For clarity, we will refer to the noun as the “reference word” and the pronoun as the ” RELATIVE PRONOUN..”

A relative clause is a subordinate clause and as such serves to explain another clause or another word in it. A relative clause is almost always placed immediately after the noun to which it refers and is therefore sometimes placed in the middle of the main clause.
For example:
Die Frau, die auf der Straße steht, sieht sehr jung aus.
Since it belongs to subordinate clauses, the verb must be at the end of the sentence.
Relative pronouns look like the definite article der, die das, however they have a completely different function.
For example:
Das ist mein bester Freund. Ich kenne ihn seit dem Kindergarten.
Das ist mein bester Freund, den ich seit dem Kindergarten kenne.
How do we choose the right relative pronoun?
The REFERENCE WORD determines the gender and number, that is, the singular and the plural of the RELATIVE PRONOUN.
The CASE of the relative pronoun depends on which part of the sentence in the dependent clause the RELATIVE PRONOUN replaces.
Thus, a relative pronoun can be in the nominative, accusative, dative, or genitive case, a combination of a preposition and a relative pronoun,… Let’s classify them:
Relative clauses relating to NOUN
They can be in nominative, accusative, dative, genitive case, along with a preposition. The relative pronoun ‘was‘ stands after words alles, etwas, nichts and nominal nouns.
The relative pronoun ‘wo‘ stands after place.
The relative pronoun ‘wer‘ stands after unknown persons.
For example:
NOMINATIVE : Das ist die Freundin, die sehr gut Gitarre spielt.
ACCUSATIVE : Das ist mein bester Freund, den ich seit dem Kindergarten kenne.
If you want to know more about this topic then click on: Relative pronouns in the nominative and accusative
DATIVE : Das ist die Freudin, der ich immer beim Lernen helfe.
GENITIVE : Das ist der Freud, dessen Haus du gekauft hast.
VERB + PREPOSITION : Das ist die Frau, mit der ich letzte Woche über dich gesprochen habe.
PLACE
For example:
Das ist das Haus, in dem/wo ich aufgewachsen bin.
Das ist die Stadt, wo meine Mutter geboren ist.
Adjective as Noun/SUPERLATIVE
For example:
Das ist das Beste, das du machen konntest.
If you want to know more about this topic then click on: Relative pronouns was, wo and wer
Relative clauses relating to PRONOUN
After: das, etwas, nichts, alles, vieles …
For example:
Sie erzählte mir alles, was sie wusste.
Verb + Preposition
For example:
Es gibt Vieles, wofür sie sich interessiert.
After: jemand, niemand, einer, keiner …
For example:
Da steht jemand, der mit dir sprechen möchte.
Verb + Preposition
For example:
In der Firma gibt es niemand, mid dem ich sprechen kann.
Click on:
Grammar Contetns
Relative clauses that refer to the WHOLE SENTENCE
Endlich hat mein Burder meinen Laptop repariert, was ich mir seit langem gewünscht habe.
Verb + Preposition
For example:
Endlich hat mein Burder meinen Laptop repariert, worauf ich seit langem gewartet habe.
The relative clause follows as directly as possible after the REFERENCE WORD. However, if the sentence is very long and/or only one or two words follow the related word, it is better to finish the main sentence first.
For example:
Wir haben endlich Jans neue Freundin, von der er uns so viel erzählt hat, kennengelernt.
It is better this way:
Wir haben endlich Jans neue Freundin kennengelernt, von der er uns so viel erzählt hat.
See more: