Breakdown of Der Autor, den ich mag, hat den Roman geschrieben.
ich
I
haben
to have
schreiben
to write
mögen
to like
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Roman
the novel
der Autor
the author
Questions & Answers about Der Autor, den ich mag, hat den Roman geschrieben.
Why is the relative pronoun den instead of der?
In the relative clause , den ich mag, (that I like), the subject doing the liking is ich. The author is the direct object receiving the action. Because der Autor is a masculine noun, its relative pronoun takes the accusative form den when it acts as the direct object.
Why does the verb mag come at the very end of the relative clause?
A relative clause is a type of subordinate clause. In German, these clauses always push the conjugated verb (in this case, mag) to the very end of their section, right before the closing comma.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with the verb hat?
The core of the main sentence is Der Autor hat den Roman geschrieben (The author wrote the novel). The relative clause , den ich mag, simply interrupts the main clause to add extra information about the author. After the second comma, the main sentence just picks up exactly where it left off with hat.
Why does the sentence use den Roman instead of der Roman?
Roman (novel) is a masculine noun. In the main sentence, it is the direct object—the thing that the author wrote. Because it receives the action, its article changes from the basic nominative der to the accusative den.
Learn Der Autor, den ich mag, hat den Roman geschrieben and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free