Breakdown of Der Prinz wollte den Thron, jedoch hasste er den Herzog und dessen Intrigen.
er
he
und
and
wollen
to want
der Prinz
the prince
jedoch
however
hassen
to hate
der Herzog
the duke
dessen
his (referring back to something just mentioned)
der Thron
the throne
die Intrige
the intrigue
Questions & Answers about Der Prinz wollte den Thron, jedoch hasste er den Herzog und dessen Intrigen.
Why does the sentence use dessen instead of seine?
If you used seine Intrigen, it would be grammatically correct but ambiguous: it could mean the prince hated his own intrigues. Using the demonstrative pronoun dessen specifically points back to the most recently mentioned noun (den Herzog). It translates roughly as "the latter's" intrigues, removing any confusion.
Since Intrigen is plural, shouldn't dessen get an ending to match it, the way seine does?
No, and this is a helpful feature of these pronouns. Unlike standard possessives (which change endings to match the noun they are attached to), dessen and deren lock their shape based only on the possessor. Because the possessor (der Herzog) is masculine singular, the word is dessen. It does not change to match the plural Intrigen.
Why does the verb hasste come right after jedoch? Doesn't it work like aber?
While jedoch translates to "however" and has a similar meaning to aber, they affect word order differently. Aber takes "position zero" and leaves the rest of the sentence order alone. Jedoch usually acts as an adverb taking up position 1 in its clause. Since the conjugated verb must be in position 2, hasste comes immediately after it, pushing the subject er to position 3.
Is it normal to use the simple past (wollte, hasste) for this kind of sentence?
Yes. The vocabulary (princes, dukes, thrones) clearly points to a story, fairy tale, or historical narrative. Written storytelling in German relies heavily on the simple past (Präteritum). Furthermore, modal verbs like wollen are almost always used in the simple past anyway, even in casual spoken German.
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