Breakdown of Die Geschichten, die wir lesen, erzählen von der Vergangenheit.
wir
we
lesen
to read
erzählen
to tell
die Geschichte
the story
von
from, of / by (agent in passive clauses)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
die Vergangenheit
the past
Questions & Answers about Die Geschichten, die wir lesen, erzählen von der Vergangenheit.
How can you tell that the relative pronoun die is in the accusative case here?
In the relative clause die wir lesen (that we read), wir is the subject (we are the ones reading). The pronoun die refers to the stories being read, making it the direct object. Direct objects take the accusative case! For plural nouns, the accusative relative pronoun is die, which conveniently looks exactly the same as the nominative.
Why does the verb lesen come right before the second comma?
The phrase die wir lesen is a relative clause. In German, relative clauses are subordinate clauses, and the number one rule for those is that the conjugated verb (here, lesen) gets pushed to the very end of that specific clause.
Why does the main verb erzählen come immediately after the comma?
It is following the verb-second rule! In the main sentence, the entire subject block is Die Geschichten, die wir lesen (The stories that we read). Because this whole phrase acts as position 1, the main verb erzählen must take position 2 right after it.
If the word for past is feminine (die Vergangenheit), why does the sentence say der Vergangenheit?
The verb phrase here is erzählen von (to tell about). The preposition von always forces the noun following it into the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine article die changes to der.
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