You already know der, die, das as the definite article ("the"). But the very same words have a second life as stressed demonstrative pronouns meaning that one, this one, him, her, those — and in everyday spoken German they are used far more than the textbook dieser or jener. Kennst du den? ("Do you know that guy?") is something Germans say constantly. This page shows you how the demonstrative der/die/das works, why it has the surprising forms dessen, deren and denen, and how it differs from dieser.
The article that became a pronoun
When der/die/das stands alone — with no noun after it — it is no longer an article but a demonstrative pronoun. It points at a person or thing already in the conversation, usually with audible stress and often a slightly informal, pointing tone.
Kennst du den da drüben? — Nein, den kenne ich nicht.
Do you know that guy over there? — No, I don't know him.
Wie findest du Annas neue Frisur? — Die ist echt schön.
What do you think of Anna's new haircut? — That's really nice.
Welches Auto nimmst du? — Das hier, das ist günstiger.
Which car are you taking? — This one, it's cheaper.
Used this way, der/die/das carries emphasis. Die ist nett ("She's nice / That one's nice") feels more pointed than the neutral pronoun Sie ist nett. Germans often use it for people present in the room or just mentioned — it can sound blunt or dismissive if overused about a person, so it lives mostly in informal speech.
The full paradigm — and where it diverges
Here is the crucial part. The demonstrative pronoun matches the definite article in most cells, but it has four special forms that look nothing like the article: the genitive dessen / deren, and the dative plural denen.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der | die | das | die |
| Accusative | den | die | das | die |
| Dative | dem | der | dem | denen |
| Genitive | dessen | deren | dessen | deren |
Compare this with the definite article, whose genitive is des/der/des/der and whose dative plural is den. The demonstrative pronoun beefs those forms up to dessen, deren and denen. Why? Because a bare pronoun has to carry meaning on its own, without a noun beside it to mark the case. The article den can lean on a following noun (den Männern), but a standalone dative-plural pronoun would be ambiguous, so German gives it a fuller, unmistakable shape: denen.
Mit denen rede ich nicht mehr.
I don't talk to those people anymore.
Das ist der Mann, mit dessen Tochter ich zur Schule gegangen bin.
That's the man with whose daughter I went to school.
Die Nachbarn? Von denen habe ich schon lange nichts gehört.
The neighbors? I haven't heard from them in a long time.
Meine Kollegen und deren Familien sind eingeladen.
My colleagues and their families are invited.
That last example shows a favorite use of deren: to mean their unambiguously. Ihre Familien could be misread (whose families?), so careful writers use deren Familien to point clearly back to the colleagues. This is a genuinely useful disambiguation tool in careful writing.
The same forms run the relative-pronoun system
Here is the insight that unlocks two grammar systems at once: dessen, deren and denen are exactly the forms used by the relative pronoun der/die/das too. The relative pronoun is the demonstrative pronoun, recycled to open a relative clause.
Der Junge, dessen Hund weggelaufen ist, weint.
The boy whose dog ran away is crying.
Die Leute, mit denen wir gesprochen haben, waren freundlich.
The people we spoke with were friendly.
So when you learn dessen / deren / denen for the demonstrative, you have simultaneously learned the trickiest cells of the relative pronoun. Recognizing the overlap means you do not have to memorize two separate paradigms — it is one paradigm doing two jobs. (See relative pronouns der/die/das for the full relative system.)
Pointing near and far: der ... hier vs der ... da
German has no separate word for this one versus that one the way English does. Instead it adds hier (here) for nearness and da / dort (there) for distance to the demonstrative der/die/das.
Welchen Pulli möchtest du? — Den hier, nicht den da.
Which sweater do you want? — This one, not that one.
Die hier ist meine, die dort gehört dir.
This one is mine, that one is yours.
This is the everyday way to make the this/that contrast. Dieser (this) and jener (that) exist, but jener in particular is now almost literary; der ... da has replaced it in speech.
dieser as a pointing demonstrative
dieser/diese/dieses also works as a standalone pronoun meaning this one, and it declines fully like a der-word (see dieser, jener, jeder). It is more neutral and a touch more formal than the stressed der/die/das.
Von allen Vorschlägen finde ich diesen am besten.
Of all the proposals I like this one best.
The difference in register matters: in a conversation you would point and say Den nehme ich ("I'll take that one"); in a written report you would more likely write Diesen wähle ich ("I choose this one").
Common Mistakes
❌ Die Leute, mit den ich arbeite, sind nett.
Incorrect — as a relative/demonstrative dative plural, it must be denen, not den.
✅ Die Leute, mit denen ich arbeite, sind nett.
The people I work with are nice.
English has no case forms to copy here, so learners default to the article den. The standalone dative plural pronoun is always denen.
❌ Der Mann, von dem Auto rot ist, wartet.
Incorrect — for 'whose,' use the genitive dessen, not von dem.
✅ Der Mann, dessen Auto rot ist, wartet.
The man whose car is red is waiting.
English whose maps onto German's genitive dessen / deren, not onto a von + dative paraphrase. Von dem means "from him/it," not "whose."
❌ Meine Freunde und ihre Eltern... (wenn 'ihre' mehrdeutig ist)
Ambiguous — ihre could refer to someone else; deren points clearly back.
✅ Meine Freunde und deren Eltern sind gekommen.
My friends and their parents came.
Not strictly wrong, but in careful writing deren is the precise choice when ihre would be ambiguous about whose parents you mean.
❌ Kennst du diese? (gesprochen, beim Zeigen auf eine Person)
Stiff — in speech, the stressed die is far more natural for pointing.
✅ Kennst du die?
Do you know her / that one?
Reaching for dieser/diese in casual speech sounds textbook-stilted. Natives use the stressed der/die/das.
Key Takeaways
- der/die/das doubles as a stressed demonstrative pronoun (that one, him, her, those) — the everyday choice in spoken German.
- It diverges from the article in exactly four cells: genitive dessen (m/n), deren (f/pl), and dative plural denen.
- Those same forms run the relative-pronoun system — learn them once, use them twice.
- For this/that, add hier (near) or da/dort (far): den hier vs den da.
- dieser is the more neutral/formal standalone "this one"; the stressed der/die/das is the informal everyday demonstrative.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- dieser, jener, jeder, welcher (der-words)A2 — The main der-word determiners — this, that, each, and which — all take the exact der/die/das endings, with key notes on why spoken German avoids jener for 'that'.
- How Case Marks PronounsA2 — The full personal-pronoun paradigm across nominative, accusative, and dative — where German case shows up most clearly.
- derselbe, derjenige (Identity and Specifying)B2 — The compound determiners derselbe ('the same') and derjenige ('the one who') — their double declension, the derselbe vs der gleiche distinction, and how derjenige sets up a relative clause.
- Relative Pronouns: der, die, dasB1 — The workhorse relative pronouns der/die/das take their gender and number from the noun outside the clause but their case from their role inside it — and the clause is verb-final.
- Determiners: der-words and ein-wordsA2 — The two determiner families that drive German adjective endings — der-words decline like the definite article, ein-words like ein, and each triggers its own adjective pattern.