Breakdown of Der Zeuge, der hier steht, hilft uns.
hier
here
uns
us
helfen
to help
stehen
to stand
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Zeuge
the witness
Questions & Answers about Der Zeuge, der hier steht, hilft uns.
Why is there a second der right after the first comma?
The second der is a relative pronoun meaning "who". It refers back to the masculine noun Der Zeuge (the witness). Because the witness is the one doing the action inside this relative clause (he is standing), the pronoun must be in the nominative case, which is der.
Why is the verb steht at the end of the phrase between the commas?
The phrase der hier steht is a relative clause, which adds extra information about the witness. In German, relative clauses always push their conjugated verb to the very end of that clause.
Why does the verb hilft come right after the second comma? Doesn't the main verb go in the second position?
It is exactly in the second position! The entire subject of the main sentence is the whole chunk before the second comma: Der Zeuge, der hier steht (The witness who is standing here). Since that entire subject phrase counts as position one, the main verb hilft takes its normal second position right after it.
Why do we use uns here?
The verb helfen (to help) is a special verb in German that always requires its object to be in the dative case. Therefore, we must use the dative pronoun uns (us).
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