English relative pronouns are Which Who Whom Whose That

English Use Restrictive (no comma) vs. non-restrictive (comma) Restrictive: The man who lives at 51 Main Street is an engineer (as opposed to the man who lives at 52 Main Street) Non-restrictive: The man, who lives at 51 Main Street, is an engineer. (main point: the man is an engineer and, additionally, he happens to live at 51 Main Street)

German Use No difference between restrictive or non-restrictive. All relative clauses start with a comma! Forms of relative pronouns are identical to definite articles, except for plural Dative (denen instead of den), masc. and neut. Genitive (dessen instead of des) and plur. and fem. Genitive (deren instead of der)

German Relative Pronoun Forms Nom. Acc. Dat. Gen. Masc. der den dem dessen Fem. die deren Neut. das Plur. denen

Which relative pronoun to use? The form of the relative pronoun depends on two things: 1. gender of the noun it refers to. This noun is found in the clause (or partial clause) that precedes the relative clause, usually right before the comma.This will give you the gender for your relative pronoun. Ich kenne den Mann, der hier wohnt. (m.) Die Frau, die das gekauft hat, ist reich. (f.) Das Buch gehört dem Kind, das hier sitzt. (n.) Wir hassen Leute, die nicht singen können. (pl.)

Ich kenne den Mann, der hier wohnt. (subject=nominative). 2. function of the relative pronoun in its own clause. This will give you the case for your relative pronoun. Ich kenne den Mann, der hier wohnt. (subject=nominative). Die Frau, die er kennt, ist reich. (direct object=accusative) Das Kind, dem ich das Geld gebe, braucht es. (indirect object=dative) Ich liebe Menschen, deren Ziel es ist, andere Leute glücklich zu machen. (genitive = whose) Er dankte den Leuten, bei denen er wohnen durfte. (prepositional object=whatever case preposition requires)

Important things to know 1. relative clauses are subordinating clauses (i.e., the conjugated verb has to be at the end of the German relative clause) 2. relative pronouns can sometimes be omitted in English, but they cannot be omitted in German. *English: I know the park (which/that) you mean. *Deutsch: Ich kenne den Park, den du meinst.