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When talking about how algorithms sort users on social media, you often need to single out a specific person or group before describing them in a relative clause: "The one who..." or "Those who...". 

To do this in German, we use the demonstrative pronouns **derjenige** (the one - masculine), **diejenige** (the one - feminine), **dasjenige** (the one - neuter), and the plural **diejenigen** (those).

### How They Decline

These pronouns are essentially two words glued together: the definite article (*der, die, das*) and the suffix *-jenig-*. 

Both parts of the word must change to match the gender and case of the noun they replace. The first part changes exactly like a normal *der/die/das* article, and the second part takes standard weak adjective endings.

| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Nominative** | derjenige | diejenige | dasjenige | diejenigen |
| **Accusative** | denjenigen | diejenige | dasjenige | diejenigen |
| **Dative** | demjenigen | derjenigen | demjenigen | denjenigen |

### Masculine and Feminine

Let's look at the masculine and feminine forms in action. Notice how the pronoun acts as a placeholder in the main clause, setting up the relative clause that immediately follows it.

{{item:879820}}

If the pronoun is the object of a preposition like *für* (which always takes the accusative case), both halves of the masculine pronoun must decline to show the accusative case: *derjenige* becomes **denjenigen**.

{{item:879823}}

Feminine forms follow the exact same logic, though their nominative and accusative forms look identical.

{{item:879826}}

{{item:879827}}

### Neuter

While the masculine and feminine forms usually refer to specific people, the neuter form **dasjenige** often refers to a thing, an action, or a general concept. Because it refers to an unspecified "thing" rather than a specific noun, it is typically followed by the relative pronoun **was** instead of *das*.

{{item:879830}}

{{item:879832}}

### Plural

To talk about groups of people—like user demographics—you will use the plural form **diejenigen** ("those").

{{item:879834}}

{{item:879835}}

Just like other plural adjectives, if the plural pronoun is an indirect object, it must take the dative case. The plural *die* changes to *den*, and the suffix keeps its *-en* ending, resulting in **denjenigen**.

{{item:879840}}

Demonstrative pronouns (derjenige, diejenige)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
the one (m)	derjenige
the post	der Beitrag
the advertisement (general advertising, commercial)	die Werbung
The one (m) who writes the post sees no advertisement.	Derjenige, der den Beitrag schreibt, sieht keine Werbung.
to filter	filtern
the content	der Inhalt
The network filters the content for the one (m) who clicks a lot.	Das Netzwerk filtert den Inhalt für denjenigen, der viel klickt.
the one (f)	diejenige
the comment	der Kommentar
The one (f) who reads the comments understands the algorithm.	Diejenige, die die Kommentare liest, versteht den Algorithmus.
The app saves the advertisement for the one (f) who searches for us.	Die App speichert die Werbung für diejenige, die uns sucht.
the one (n)	dasjenige
to display	anzeigen
The one (n) that the program displays is very important.	Dasjenige, was das Programm anzeigt, ist sehr wichtig.
to suggest	vorschlagen
I only read the one (n) that you suggest to me.	Ich lese nur dasjenige, was du mir vorschlägst.
those	diejenigen
Those who share the post receive an email.	Diejenigen, die den Beitrag teilen, bekommen eine E-Mail.
The algorithm filters the content for those who know me.	Der Algorithmus filtert den Inhalt für diejenigen, die mich kennen.
The algorithm blocks those who write against me.	Der Algorithmus blockiert diejenigen, die gegen mich schreiben.
The one (m) who writes the comment also reads the post.	Derjenige, der den Kommentar schreibt, liest auch den Beitrag.
We immediately delete the one (n) that the user writes.	Dasjenige, was der Nutzer schreibt, löschen wir sofort.
The one (f) who suggests the content is my partner.	Diejenige, die den Inhalt vorschlägt, ist meine Partnerin.
The algorithm displays the post to those who like it.	Der Algorithmus zeigt denjenigen den Beitrag an, die ihn mögen.