Breakdown of Was der König wirklich will, ist das Reich und dessen Geld.
sein
to be
und
and
das Geld
the money
was
what
wollen
to want
wirklich
really
der König
the king
dessen
his (referring back to something just mentioned)
das Reich
the empire
Questions & Answers about Was der König wirklich will, ist das Reich und dessen Geld.
Why is dessen used here instead of sein?
This is exactly how dessen resolves ambiguity! If the sentence said das Reich und sein Geld, sein could grammatically refer back to either das Reich (its money) or der König (his own money). By using dessen (the genitive demonstrative pronoun), it strictly points to the most recently mentioned noun, das Reich, making it completely clear that he wants the empire's money.
If the king wanted the empire's lands (die Ländereien, plural) instead of its money, would dessen need an ending like dessene?
No. A great feature of dessen (for masculine or neuter possessors) and deren (for feminine or plural possessors) is that they never change their endings to match the noun that follows them. Because it refers back to the neuter singular noun das Reich, it stays dessen regardless of whether the thing being owned is singular, plural, masculine, feminine, or neuter.
Why is there a comma before ist? We don't use one in English for this structure.
In German, the entire phrase Was der König wirklich will acts as a dependent clause that functions as the subject of the sentence. German punctuation rules strictly require you to separate dependent clauses from the main clause with a comma, even when that dependent clause is the subject sitting right next to the main verb (ist).
Are das Reich and Geld in the accusative case because the king wants them?
No, they are in the nominative case. While the verb wollen (wants) takes an accusative object, the main verb connecting these nouns to the rest of the sentence is ist. The verb sein (to be) is a linking verb, which means it takes a predicate nominative rather than a direct object. Therefore, das Reich und dessen Geld must be in the nominative case.
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