10.5 Subordination: relative clauses

obwohl although concession

Obwohl er mein Vetter ist,kann ich nichts für ihn tun. Although he’s my cousin, there’s nothing I can do for him.

NB obgleich, obschon, wenngleich and wiewohl also mean ‘although’. They are used mainly in written German and are less common than obwohl.

so dass so that result,consequence

Er schob den Ärmel zurück, so dass wir die Narbe sehen konnten. He pushed his sleeve back so that we could see the scar.

NB Don’t confuse so dass with damit, which indicates a purpose. If you said Er schob den Ärmel zurück, damit wir die Narbe sehen konnten it would suggest that he rolled his sleeve back with the express purpose of showing us the scar.

weil because reason,cause

Ich musste zu Fuß gehen, weil ich die letzte Straßenbahn verpasst hatte. I had to walk because I’d missed the last tram.

NB In speech, weil is often used like denn with the word order of a main clause, i.e. the verb in second place rather than at the end of the clause, e.g.…, weil ich hatte die letzte Straßenbahn verpasst. Although common, this usage is usually thought of as incorrect and it is not used in written German.

NB The verb in a wenn-clause is normally in the subjunctive if the condition is unreal or hypothetical (see 7.5). NB wenn can also be used as a conjunction of time, meaning ‘when’.

wenn if condition

Wenn ich nach Berlin komme,besuche ich meine alte Freundin. If I get to Berlin, I’ll visit my old friend/girlfriend. Wenn ich Zeit hätte,käme ich gerne mit. If I had the time, I’d love to come with you.

Subordinate clauses which qualify a noun, rather like adjectives, are called RELATIVECLAUSES. They are introduced by a RELATIVEPRONOUN, corresponding to English ‘who’, ‘which’ or ‘that’:

Der Roman, den ich lese,ist interessant. The novel (which) I’m reading is interesting. Ich kannte den Mann, der gestern gestorben ist. I knew the man who died yesterday. Der Mann, dem ich helfe,ist sehr alt. The man (who[m]) I am helping is very old. Der Stuhl, auf dem ich sitze,ist wackelig. The chair on which I am sitting is wobbly.

The most common RELATIVEPRONOUN in German is der/die/das. It indicates case, number and gender and has the same forms as the DEMONSTRATIVEPRONOUN der/die/das (see 3.9):

RELATIVE PRONOUN

masculine feminine neuter plural closest equivalent

nominative der die das die who accusative den die das die whom genitive dessen deren dessen deren whose dative dem der dem denen to whom

The relative pronoun takes its GENDER and NUMBER from the noun it refers back to; its CASE from its role in the relative clause which it introduces.

This means that a relative pronoun referring back to a masculine singular noun (e.g. der Mann) will always be in the masculine singular form (‘masculine’ column in the table) but its case will depend on its role within the relative clause: if the man is the subject of the relative clause, the pronoun will be in the nominative case (der), if he is the direct object of the relative clause, the pronoun will be in the accusative case (den) etc:

THE CASE OF THE RELATIVE PRONOUN

nominative subject of the verb in the clause accusative object of the verb in the clause dative object of the verb in the clause genitive dependent on a noun accusative or dative after a preposition

der Mann, der kommt,… die Frau, die kommt,… das Kind, das kommt,… die Leute, die kommen,…

der Mann, den ich sehe,… die Frau, die ich sehe,… das Kind, das ich sehe,… die Leute, die ich sehe,…

der Mann, dem ich es gebe,… die Frau, der ich es gebe,… das Kind, dem ich es gebe,… die Leute, denen ich es gebe,…

der Mann, dessen Frau ich liebe,… die Frau, deren Mann ich liebe,… das Kind, dessen Oma ich kenne,… die Leute, deren Auto ich kaufe,…

der Mann, für den ich arbeite,… die Frau, an die ich denke,… das Kind, mit dem ich spiele,… die Leute, über die ich spreche,…

The relative pronoun is never omitted in German, unlike English.