Breakdown of Der Prinz verbannt den Herzog und dessen Sohn aus dem Reich.
und
and
aus
from / out of (made of)
der Sohn
the son
der Prinz
the prince
der Herzog
the duke
dessen
his (referring back to something just mentioned)
verbannen
to banish
das Reich
the empire
Questions & Answers about Der Prinz verbannt den Herzog und dessen Sohn aus dem Reich.
Why is dessen used here instead of seinen?
If the sentence used seinen Sohn, it would imply the prince banished his own son. By using the demonstrative possessive pronoun dessen (meaning 'that one's'), it makes it completely clear that the son belongs to the most recently mentioned masculine noun, which is den Herzog (the duke).
Does dessen change its ending to match the accusative case of Sohn?
No, and that is a key difference from regular possessive pronouns. While seinen would take an -en ending for the accusative masculine object, dessen is a fixed form. It is based entirely on the gender and number of the possessor (der Herzog, masculine singular) and never adds endings to match the noun it modifies.
Since dessen has no ending, how do we know the case of Sohn?
Sohn is in the accusative case here because it is tied to den Herzog by the conjunction und. They form a compound direct object receiving the action of verbannt. Because dessen does not decline, the noun Sohn simply appears without a visible accusative article.
Why does the sentence use aus dem Reich instead of aus das Reich?
The preposition aus is a strict dative preposition. It always forces the following noun into the dative case, even though banishing implies a directional movement out of somewhere. Since Reich is a neuter noun (das Reich), its dative article is dem.
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