Barsby's Grammar Bash

Relative Clauses

A relative clause is a way of further describing something or somebody. In English they are introduced using: 'who', 'that', 'which' or 'what'.

eg: The man who lives opposite me is ugly

In German they are introduced by a relative pronoun which is governed by case and gender, as the following table shows:

Relative Pronouns

How to use the table

We need to decide on number and gender, and on case.

The number and gender is found by looking at the thing or person that the relative clause is describing.

eg1: The man who lives opposite me is ugly.

In this example we are talking about a man (ein Mann), so he is singular and masculine.

To find the case we need to look at the grammatical role that the pronoun is playing in the relative clause. In this instance the man is the subject of the verb 'to live'. Therefore, he will be in the nominative case.(der)

Der Mann, der mir gegenüber wohnt, ist häßlich

eg2: The jacket that I bought only cost €20

Gender and number: sing. fem. (die/eine Jacke)

Case: Accusative. The jacket is not doing the buying, it is being bought so it is a direct object. Thus the relative pronoun is die

Die Jacke, die ich gekauft habe, hat nur €20 gekostet

Forming a sentence with a relative clause

Relative clauses function a little like subordinate clauses in that:

• They are separated from the rest of the sentence by commas
• The verb IN the relative clause goes to the end of that CLAUSE. (ie: not necessarily the end of the sentence)

Using Prepositions with relative clauses

If we need to use a preposition, we must put this DIRECTLY BEFORE the relative pronoun. The case of the pronoun is then directly governed by the preposition itself.

eg: the town that I live in is called Cheltenham.

The preposition here is 'in' which must go straight before the relative pronoun and put it in the dative: - 'die Stadt, in der ich wohne, heißt Cheltenham

eg2: the girl I'm doing my homework with is really nice: das Mädchen, mit dem ich meine Hausaufgaben mache, ist wirklich nett.

When do we use the genitive?

This is used whenever we would say 'of whom' or more commonly 'whose' in English.

eg: The man whose daughter is ill is very sad: der Mann, dessen Tochter krank ist, ist sehr traurig.

The children whose work I am marking are very lazy: die Kinder, deren Aufgaben ich korrigiere, sind sehr faul.

Exercises

1. Translate the following
1. The film that I saw last week was called Shrek.
2. The lead role was played by a man who was very funny.
3. The book that I read last week was so boring, I nearly put it down.
4. It is about two people who fall in love
5. The plot that was so boring in the beginning, soon became tense
6. The boy whose brother had died had to find out who had killed him.
7. The boy found some apple pie that was left on the kitchen table
8. The two lovers, whose families hated each other, committed suicide. (selbstmord begehen)
9. The funniest film I have ever (je) seen is called The Full Monty.
10. The ship they are traveling on hits an iceberg and sinks.

Answers

1. Der Film, den ich letzte Woche sah, hieß Shrek.
2. Die Hauptrolle wurde von einem Mann, der sehr lustig war, gespielt.
3. Das Buch, das ich letzte Woche gelesen habe, war so langweilig, dass ich es fast aus der Hand gelegt habe.
4. Es handelt von zwei Leuten, die sich verlieben.
5. Die Handlung, die am Anfang so langweilig war, wurde bald spannend.
6. Der Junge, dessen Bruder gestorben war, musste herausfinden/feststellen, wer ihn getötet hatte.
7. Der Junge hat einen Apfelkuchen gefunden, der auf dem Küchentisch war.
8. Die zwei Liebhaber, deren Familien einander/sich gehasst haben, sind selbstmord begangen.
9. Der lustigste Film, den ich je gesehen habe, heißt The Full Monty!
10. Das Schiff, auf dem sie reisen, trifft einen Eisberg und sinkt.