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Languages are always evolving. Words travel across borders and cultures, bringing new meanings with them. To describe the places where these loanwords come from and where they go, German uses directional relative clauses.

### Tracing origins with woher

When you want to describe the origin or source of a noun (like a country or a place), you do not use standard relative pronouns like *der*, *die*, or *das*. Instead, German uses the directional word **woher** (where from) as the relative pronoun.

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Notice that just like any other relative clause, the *woher* clause is separated from the main sentence by a comma, and the conjugated verb (*stammt*, *kommt*) is pushed to the very end of the clause.

### Tracing destinations with wohin

When describing the destination or direction that something is moving towards, use **wohin** (where to) as your relative pronoun.

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You will often see *wohin* used with verbs that express spreading or expansion, especially when discussing cultural exchange.

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### Interrupting the main sentence

Relative clauses don't just sit at the end of a sentence. Often, you will want to describe the subject of your main sentence. When this happens, the *woher* or *wohin* clause interrupts the main sentence directly after the noun it describes.

Just remember: place commas on both sides of the relative clause, and make sure its conjugated verb goes directly before the second comma!

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Directional relative clauses (wohin, woher)

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 word	das Wort
to originate	stammen
Spain is the country where the word originates from.	Spanien ist das Land, woher das Wort stammt.
the term	der Begriff
Nobody knows the place where the term comes from.	Niemand kennt den Ort, woher der Begriff kommt.
the loanword	das Lehnwort
to migrate	wandern
The region where the loanword migrates to is large.	Das Gebiet, wohin das Lehnwort wandert, ist groß.
the meaning	die Bedeutung
The meaning has been adopted immediately.	Die Bedeutung ist sofort übernommen worden.
to spread	sich verbreiten
The word has been able to spread quickly.	Das Wort hat sich schnell verbreiten können.
cultural	kulturell
We are visiting the region where the cultural loanword originates from.	Wir besuchen das Gebiet, woher das kulturelle Lehnwort stammt.
the origin (source, beginning)	der Ursprung
The term, whose origin lies in France, has been adopted.	Der Begriff, dessen Ursprung in Frankreich liegt, ist übernommen worden.
The larger the region is, the faster the meaning can spread.	Je größer das Gebiet ist, desto schneller kann sich die Bedeutung verbreiten.
the influence	der Einfluss
We observe the country where the influence spreads to.	Wir beobachten das Land, wohin sich der Einfluss verbreitet.
The scientist shows the continent where the word migrates to.	Der Wissenschaftler zeigt den Kontinent, wohin das Wort wandert.
The country where the loanword comes from is the origin.	Das Land, woher das Lehnwort stammt, ist der Ursprung.
The language where the cultural influence spreads to is important.	Die Sprache, wohin sich der kulturelle Einfluss verbreitet, ist wichtig.
the homeland	die Heimat
The country he comes from is his homeland.	Das Land, woher er kommt, ist seine Heimat.
She thinks about her homeland very often.	Sie denkt sehr oft an ihre Heimat.

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