Die, die im Garten sitzen, hören Musik.

Those who sit in the garden listen to music.

Breakdown of Die, die im Garten sitzen, hören Musik.

• der Garten: the garden
• sitzen: to sit
• die Musik: the music
• hören: to listen to

Questions & Answers about Die, die im Garten sitzen, hören Musik.

Why are there two die in a row? That looks strange.

The two die have different grammatical roles:

• The first Die is a demonstrative pronoun: “Those (people)” / “The ones”.
• The second die is a relative pronoun: “who”.

So the structure is:

• Die (Those [people]),
• die im Garten sitzen (who are sitting in the garden),
• hören Musik (are listening to music).

In natural English: “Those who are sitting in the garden are listening to music.”

How can I tell which die is the demonstrative and which is the relative pronoun?

You can tell by position and punctuation:

1. The first Die (at the very start) stands alone before a comma. That is the demonstrative pronoun: “Those” / “The ones”.
2. The second die starts the part between the commas: die im Garten sitzen. That is a relative clause, and this die is the relative pronoun: “who”.

Anything between the commas here is extra information describing Die. That is typical of a relative clause in German.

What exactly is a relative clause in this sentence?