Breakdown of Der Täter, der das Auto stiehlt, ist gefährlich.
sein
to be
das Auto
the car
gefährlich
dangerous
stehlen
to steal
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Täter
the perpetrator, the culprit
Questions & Answers about Der Täter, der das Auto stiehlt, ist gefährlich.
Why is the word der used twice in a row here?
The first der is the article "the" for Täter (perpetrator). The second der is a relative pronoun meaning "who" or "that". It points back to der Täter. Because Täter is a masculine noun and is the subject doing the stealing, we use the masculine nominative relative pronoun der.
Why is the verb stiehlt at the very end of the middle phrase?
In German, a relative clause (like der das Auto stiehlt) pushes its conjugated verb to the very end of that clause. So instead of following the English order "who steals the car", German does "who the car steals" (subject, then object, then verb).
Are the commas around der das Auto stiehlt required?
Yes! Unlike in English, where commas around "who" phrases depend on whether the information is extra or essential, German has a strict rule: you must always place commas around a relative clause to clearly separate it from the main sentence (Der Täter ... ist gefährlich).
Why is the verb spelled stiehlt instead of stehlt?
stehlen (to steal) is an irregular verb that changes its stem vowel from e to ie for the "you" (du) and "he/she/it" (er/sie/es) forms. Since der Täter acts as a "he", the verb becomes stiehlt.
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