A2 → Grammar · Lesson 21 of 22

German Relative Clauses: Der, Die, Das as Connectors

der Relativsatz

Before this lesson: make sure you've covered Talking About the Future first.

A relative clause adds extra information about a noun, joined by a connecting word like "who" or "which" in English. In German, the connecting words (der, die, das) look exactly like the definite articles you know — and just like other subordinate clauses, the verb moves to the end.

Types you should know

das Relativpronomen

relative pronoun, looks like der/die/das

Nominativ

the pronoun is the subject of its own clause

Akkusativ

the pronoun is the object of its own clause

See it in action

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominativ	der	die	das	die
Akkusativ	den	die	das	die

Examples

German	English
Das ist der Mann, der neben mir wohnt.	That's the man who lives next to me.
Das ist der Film, den ich gestern gesehen habe.	That's the film I saw yesterday.

Memory trick: Relative pronouns look exactly like der/die/das — the only new rule is that the verb goes to the end, like every other A2 subordinate clause.

⚠ Common mistake: Don't pick the relative pronoun's gender from the wrong noun — it always matches the noun it describes, not the main clause's subject.

🎯 Quick check

Which relative pronoun completes: 'Das ist die Frau, ___ in Berlin arbeitet.'?

German Relative Clauses: Der, Die, Das as Connectors

Types you should know

See it in action

Examples

🎯 Quick check

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