Breakdown of Der Sänger, dessen Stimme mich fasziniert, ist hier.
sein
to be
hier
here
mich
me
der Sänger
the singer
Questions & Answers about Der Sänger, dessen Stimme mich fasziniert, ist hier.
Why do we use dessen here instead of deren?
The relative pronoun refers back to der Sänger, which is a masculine noun. In the genitive case, masculine and neuter nouns use dessen ("whose"), while feminine and plural nouns use deren.
Stimme is a feminine noun. Doesn't that mean we should use a feminine relative pronoun?
No, and this is a common trap! The relative pronoun (dessen) takes its gender and number from the noun it refers back to (the masculine Sänger). It doesn't matter that the thing he "owns" (die Stimme) is feminine.
Why does the verb fasziniert go just before the comma instead of in the second position?
The phrase dessen Stimme mich fasziniert is a relative clause. Relative clauses are a type of subordinate clause, which means the conjugated verb (fasziniert) gets kicked to the very end of that specific clause.
Why is it mich (accusative) instead of mir (dative)?
The verb faszinieren (to fascinate) takes a direct object in the accusative case. The voice is doing the fascinating (the subject), and it is fascinating you (the direct object, so we use mich).