Building Relative Clauses: Step by Step

Relative clauses look intimidating because the relative pronoun seems to carry three pieces of information at once — gender, number, and case. But those three pieces come from two different places, and once you know which place each comes from, building a relative clause becomes a short, repeatable procedure. This page is a workshop: we take two simple sentences and weld them into one, narrating every choice. Do this a dozen times and the procedure becomes automatic.

The two-step procedure

Everything hinges on separating the outside from the inside:

1. Gender and number come from the antecedent — the noun in the main clause that the relative clause describes. Der Mann is masculine singular, so the pronoun starts as a masculine singular form; die Kinder is plural, so it starts plural.
2. Case comes from the pronoun's role INSIDE the relative clause — is it the subject (nominative), the direct object (accusative), the object of a dative verb or dative preposition (dative), or a possessor (genitive)?
3. The verb goes to the very end of the relative clause, and a comma separates the clause from the main sentence.

The relative pronoun paradigm

The forms are almost identical to the definite article, with four distinctive cells — the dative plural denen and the three genitive forms dessen/deren:

Worked example 1 — nominative (subject inside)

Start with two sentences:

• Der Mann steht dort. (The man is standing there.)
• Der Mann ist mein Nachbar. (The man is my neighbour.)

We want: "The man who is standing there is my neighbour." The shared noun is der Mann. We turn the first sentence into a relative clause describing Mann.

• Outside: antecedent is der Mann → masculine singular.
• Inside: the man is the one doing the standing — he's the subject → nominative.
• Masculine + nominative → der.
• Verb steht moves to the end; comma before the clause.

Worked example 2 — accusative (direct object inside)

• Der Mann ist mein Nachbar.
• Ich kenne den Mann. (I know the man.)

We want: "The man whom I know is my neighbour."

• Outside: antecedent der Mann → masculine singular.
• Inside: the man is the thing being known — the direct object of kenne → accusative.
• Masculine + accusative → den.

Note that der and den differ only by the inside role, even though the antecedent is the same. This is the crux: identical antecedent, different case, because the pronoun does a different job inside.

Worked example 3 — dative (dative-verb inside)

• Der Mann ist mein Nachbar.
• Ich helfe dem Mann. (I help the man.)

The verb helfen takes the dative. So:

• Outside: der Mann → masculine singular.
• Inside: object of the dative verb helfen → dative.
• Masculine + dative → dem.

Worked example 4 — genitive (possession inside)

• Der Mann ist mein Nachbar.
• Das Auto des Mannes ist rot. (The man's car is red.)

We want: "The man whose car is red is my neighbour." Here the man is a possessor.

• Outside: der Mann → masculine singular.
• Inside: the man owns the car → genitive.
• Masculine genitive → dessen.
• The genitive pronoun replaces the possessive and stands directly before its noun: dessen Auto (whose car). No ending changes on Auto — dessen is invariable.

Worked example 5 — feminine antecedent

• Die Frau wohnt nebenan. (The woman lives next door.)

• Ich habe die Frau gestern getroffen. (I met the woman yesterday.)

• Outside: die Frau → feminine singular.
• Inside: object of getroffen → accusative.
• Feminine accusative → die (feminine accusative and nominative look the same).

Worked example 6 — preposition + relative pronoun

When the relative pronoun is governed by a preposition, the preposition comes first, and it decides the case of the pronoun.

• Die Frau ist Ärztin. (The woman is a doctor.)

• Ich spreche mit der Frau. (I'm talking with the woman.)

• Outside: die Frau → feminine singular.
• Inside: governed by mit, which takes the dative → dative.
• Feminine dative → der, preceded by mit.

For people, the preposition + pronoun pattern is required; you cannot use a wo-compound. More on this on the prepositional relatives page.

Worked example 7 — plural antecedent, dative inside

• Die Kinder spielen draußen. (The children are playing outside.)

• Ich gebe den Kindern Schokolade. (I give the children chocolate.)

• Outside: die Kinder → plural.
• Inside: indirect object (recipient) of geben → dative.
• Plural dative → denen (the distinctive dative-plural form).

Worked example 8 — neuter antecedent, accusative inside

• Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch. (The book is on the table.)

• Ich habe das Buch gestern gekauft. (I bought the book yesterday.)

• Outside: das Buch → neuter singular.
• Inside: object of kaufen → accusative.
• Neuter accusative → das (neuter nominative and accusative are identical).

English contrast

English does some of the same two-step work but hides most of it. We pick "who/whom/whose" partly by role (who = subject, whom = object, whose = possessor) and "which/that" for things — but case marking has nearly collapsed: almost nobody distinguishes "who" from "whom" in speech, and "that" covers everything. Crucially, English keeps the verb in normal position ("the man that I know") and lets you drop the pronoun entirely ("the man I know"). German allows neither shortcut: the pronoun is never omitted, and the verb must go to the end. So the two German habits English speakers must build are (1) always select the case from the internal role, never the antecedent, and (2) always push the verb to the clause-final slot.

Common Mistakes

The number-one relative-clause error: taking the case from the antecedent's look rather than the internal role. The man does the standing, so he's nominative inside — der.

A relative clause is bracketed by two commas when it sits inside the sentence. Forgetting the closing comma before the main verb resumes is a frequent slip.

Carrying English V2 word order into the clause. The relative clause is subordinate, so the finite verb (habe) sits at the very end, after the participle.

Defaulting to the look-alike die instead of checking the role. The children receive the chocolate, so they're the dative object → the special plural form denen.

Key Takeaways

• Gender and number come from the antecedent (outside); case comes from the role inside the clause.
• Subject → nominative, direct object → accusative, dative verb/preposition → dative, possessor → genitive.
• The pronoun is never dropped, and the verb goes to the end; the clause is fenced by commas.
• Watch the four distinctive forms: dative plural denen and the genitives dessen (masc./neut.) and deren (fem./pl.).
• With a preposition, the preposition leads and sets the case: die Frau, mit der ich spreche.