At C1 you learned which connectors invert the verb and how da-compounds point back to things. At C2 the task shifts from can the reader follow my reference? to am I steering the reader's attention with precision? Advanced German cohesion is about referent tracking — and German has a tool English barely possesses: the choice between the personal pronoun (er, sie, es) and the demonstrative (der, die, das) to signal which of several available referents you mean. This page is about that salience system, the near/far dieser/jener contrast, substitution devices, the connectives of argumentation, and how information flows across a text. It builds on the connector mechanics covered in Cohesion: Linking Sentences into Discourse rather than repeating them.
er/sie/es vs der/die/das: the salience switch
Both er/sie/es and the demonstrative der/die/das can mean "he/she/it/that one." They are not free variants. The difference is salience and expectation:
- The personal pronoun (er, sie, es) picks up the expected, already-topical referent — usually the grammatical subject of the previous clause, the thing the discourse is "about."
- The demonstrative (der, die, das) picks out the less expected, more recently mentioned, or contrastively foregrounded referent — often a non-subject, or a new candidate the speaker wants to single out.
Consider a sentence with two possible antecedents:
Der Chef hat mit dem Praktikanten gesprochen. Er war zufrieden.
The boss spoke with the intern. He (the boss — the topical subject) was satisfied. ('Er' defaults to the expected referent: the subject 'der Chef')
Der Chef hat mit dem Praktikanten gesprochen. Der war zufrieden.
The boss spoke with the intern. He (the intern — the more recent, less expected one) was satisfied. (demonstrative 'Der' picks out the non-subject referent)
This is the insight the brief flags, and it is genuinely beyond what English offers. English "he" is ambiguous in both sentences; "that one / the latter" is clumsy. German resolves the ambiguity grammatically: er = the topical subject, der = the other, salient one. A C2 writer exploits this constantly to keep two referents distinct without repeating nouns.
Anna traf ihre Schwester am Bahnhof. Die hatte den Zug verpasst.
Anna met her sister at the station. She (the sister — the more recent referent) had missed the train. ('Die' = demonstrative pointing to 'ihre Schwester', not to Anna)
The demonstrative also opens a clause to mark topic continuity with emphasis — Der hat das gesagt! ("HE's the one who said that"), foregrounding a referent the listener might not have expected to be relevant. Its genitive forms are dessen (masc./neut.) and deren (fem./plural), which double as relative-clause genitives and as anaphoric possessives that avoid ambiguity:
Sie lud Tom und dessen Bruder ein.
She invited Tom and his (Tom's) brother. ('dessen' unambiguously means Tom's, where 'seinen' could be misread as someone else's)
dieser and jener: near and far in the text
In concrete reference dieser ("this") and jener ("that") map onto physical or temporal nearness. In textual reference they map onto recency: dieser points to the just-mentioned (the nearer in the text, "the latter"), jener to the earlier-mentioned ("the former"). Note that jener is markedly formal and literary in modern German; in everyday prose writers more often use der erstere / der letztere or simply repeat a defining word.
Die Romantik folgte auf die Aufklärung. Diese betonte die Vernunft, jene das Gefühl.
Romanticism followed the Enlightenment. The latter stressed reason, the former emotion. ('Diese' = the nearer/just-named Aufklärung; 'jene' = the earlier-named Romantik; formal/literary)
Es gibt Theorie und Praxis. Diese zählt im Berufsleben oft mehr als jene.
There's theory and practice. The latter often counts for more in working life than the former. ('Diese' = practice, the recent one; 'jene' = theory)
Substitution: derselbe, ein solcher, derartig
Beyond pronouns, German cohesion uses substitution — replacing a noun phrase with a pro-form that carries identity or kind:
- derselbe / dieselbe / dasselbe = "the same (one)" — identity of reference: the very same entity again.
- ein solcher / eine solche and derartig = "such a one / a thing of that kind" — identity of type, not the individual.
Ich hatte gestern denselben Gedanken.
I had the same thought yesterday. (derselbe = the identical thought, full identity)
Mit einem solchen Verhalten kommt man nicht weit.
With behaviour like that you won't get far. (ein solcher = of that kind, type identity, refers back to behaviour just described)
Eine derartige Entscheidung hätte Folgen gehabt.
A decision of that sort would have had consequences. (derartig substitutes for a kind of decision mentioned earlier; formal)
Distinguishing identity (derselbe) from type (ein solcher) is a real cohesion choice: Sie fuhr dasselbe Auto ("she drove the very same car") versus Sie fuhr ein solches Auto ("she drove such a car / a car of that kind").
Connectives for argumentation
C2 writing — essays, analysis, academic prose — needs connectives that signal logical relations between claims, not just temporal sequence. These are conjunctional adverbs (they fill the Vorfeld and invert the verb, per the C1 page), but their meanings are what matter here:
| Connective | Function | Register |
|---|---|---|
| folglich | consequently (logical inference) | formal |
| demnach | accordingly / so it follows | formal |
| somit | thus / hence (summarizing result) | formal |
| mithin | therefore / consequently | formal/academic |
| gleichwohl / nichtsdestoweniger | nevertheless (strong concession) | formal/literary |
| indes(sen) | however / meanwhile | formal/literary |
Die Zahlen wurden zweimal geprüft; folglich kann ein Rechenfehler ausgeschlossen werden.
The figures were checked twice; consequently a calculation error can be ruled out. (folglich = logical inference, Vorfeld → inversion 'kann ... ausgeschlossen werden')
Der Antrag erfüllt alle Kriterien. Demnach ist er zu bewilligen.
The application meets all criteria. Accordingly, it is to be approved. (demnach draws the conclusion)
Die Methode ist umstritten. Gleichwohl liefert sie brauchbare Ergebnisse.
The method is contested. Nevertheless it yields usable results. (gleichwohl = formal/literary 'nevertheless')
Alle Wege waren gesperrt; somit blieb nur der Umweg über das Dorf.
All the roads were closed; thus only the detour through the village remained. (somit = summarizing result)
The distinction folglich / demnach / somit repays attention: folglich foregrounds a strict logical entailment, demnach presents the conclusion as "according to what's been said," and somit sums up a result. Using them interchangeably is grammatically fine but stylistically blunt; a precise writer chooses.
Thema–Rhema: how information flows
Cohesion at the text level is also about information packaging. German organizes each clause into Thema (the known, given starting point — typically the Vorfeld) and Rhema (the new information — typically toward the end). A cohesive text chains these so that the Rhema of one sentence becomes the Thema of the next ("linear progression"), or so that a constant Thema is elaborated by changing Rhemata ("constant-theme progression").
Wir kauften ein altes Haus. Das Haus stammte aus dem 18. Jahrhundert. Sein Dach musste völlig erneuert werden.
We bought an old house. The house dated from the 18th century. Its roof had to be completely renewed. (linear progression: new info 'Haus' becomes the next Thema; then 'sein Dach' chains on)
This is why German so freely fronts non-subjects into the Vorfeld: putting the linking, given element first (even if it's an object or adverbial) keeps the Thema–Rhema flow smooth. Starting every sentence with the grammatical subject — the English default — often breaks the chain and makes German prose feel disjointed.
Über die Folgen wurde lange gestritten. Zu einem Ergebnis kam man nicht.
The consequences were argued over at length. No conclusion was reached. (the given element 'über die Folgen' / 'zu einem Ergebnis' is fronted to maintain the thematic chain)
Common Mistakes
❌ Der Chef sprach mit dem Praktikanten. Er war zufrieden.
If you mean the intern was satisfied, this is misleading — 'er' defaults to the subject 'der Chef'; to point at the intern, use the demonstrative 'der'.
✅ Der Chef sprach mit dem Praktikanten. Der war zufrieden.
The boss spoke with the intern. He (the intern) was satisfied. (demonstrative for the less expected referent)
❌ Sie lud Tom und seinen Bruder ein.
If you mean Tom's brother, this is ambiguous — 'seinen' could refer to a third person's brother; for an unambiguous 'Tom's' use 'dessen'.
✅ Sie lud Tom und dessen Bruder ein.
She invited Tom and his (Tom's) brother. (dessen disambiguates the possessor)
❌ Theorie und Praxis: jene zählt im Beruf mehr.
If you mean practice counts more, the reference is wrong — 'jene' points to the EARLIER-named (theory); for the recently named 'practice' use 'diese'.
✅ Theorie und Praxis: diese zählt im Beruf mehr.
Theory and practice: the latter counts for more at work. (diese = the recent one, practice)
❌ Sie fuhr ein solches Auto wie ihre Mutter — genau dieses Auto.
Type/identity clash — 'ein solches' means 'of that kind', but 'exactly this car' is identity; use 'dasselbe'.
✅ Sie fuhr dasselbe Auto wie ihre Mutter.
She drove the same car as her mother. (derselbe = identity of the individual)
❌ Die Zahlen wurden geprüft; folglich ein Fehler kann ausgeschlossen werden.
Word-order error — 'folglich' fills the Vorfeld and forces inversion: verb second.
✅ Die Zahlen wurden geprüft; folglich kann ein Fehler ausgeschlossen werden.
The figures were checked; consequently an error can be ruled out.
Key Takeaways
- German tracks referents with a salience switch English lacks: er/sie/es picks up the expected, topical subject; the demonstrative der/die/das picks out the less expected, more recent, or foregrounded referent. Use dessen/deren to disambiguate possessors.
- In textual reference, dieser = the just-mentioned ("the latter"), jener (formal/literary) = the earlier-mentioned ("the former") — the reverse of English intuition.
- Substitute with derselbe for identity of the individual and ein solcher / derartig for identity of kind.
- Argumentative connectives — folglich (inference), demnach (accordingly), somit (summing result), gleichwohl (nevertheless) — fill the Vorfeld and invert; choose among them for logical precision.
- Manage Thema–Rhema flow: front the given/linking element (often a non-subject) so each Rhema chains into the next Thema; defaulting to subject-first breaks German cohesion.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Cohesion: Linking Sentences into DiscourseC1 — Conjunctional adverbs like deshalb and trotzdem fill the Vorfeld and force verb-inversion — unlike coordinating conjunctions, which sit outside the clause and don't — and together with pronouns and da-compounds they weave sentences into connected text.
- Demonstrative Pronouns: der, die, das, dieserB1 — How der, die, das work as stressed demonstrative pronouns meaning 'that one' — including the special forms dessen, deren and denen — and how dieser points to 'this one'.
- Personal Pronouns OverviewA1 — The German personal pronouns ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie, Sie across all three cases, plus the three words spelled sie.
- Formal and Written Discourse ConnectorsC1 — The single-word connectors that structure academic and official German — sequencing (zunächst, abschließend), addition (des Weiteren, ferner), contrast (hingegen, allerdings), result (folglich, infolgedessen), and concession (gleichwohl, nichtsdestoweniger) — most triggering verb inversion.
- Topicalization, Focus, and Information StructureC1 — How German manages topic and focus through word order — fronting marks the topic, the late, stressed Mittelfeld marks the new information, and given precedes new.
- Nominal Style (Nominalstil)C1 — How formal, bureaucratic, and academic German packs actions into noun phrases — converting verbs to nominalizations, building genitive chains, and judging when the nominal style helps or harms readability.