3.3.2 Relative clauses

Overview

Relative clauses help you connect two sentences and give extra information about a person, thing, place, or idea. In German they are very common in spoken and written language and are essential for more natural and detailed communication. This chapter focuses only on the basic mechanics and usage of relative clauses at B1 level, not on all possible special cases or advanced stylistic questions.

What a Relative Clause Is

A relative clause is a part of a sentence that refers back to a noun, often called the antecedent. In English it usually starts with “who,” “which,” or “that.”

Example in English:
“The colleague who sits next to me is very friendly.”

In German, the relative clause is introduced by a relative pronoun, and the finite verb of the relative clause stands at the end.

Example in German:
“Die Kollegin, die neben mir sitzt, ist sehr freundlich.”
“The colleague who sits next to me is very friendly.”

The relative clause cannot stand alone as a sentence. It needs the main clause. It functions like a long adjective that describes the noun more precisely.

Position and Comma Use

The relative clause usually directly follows the noun it describes. This helps the listener or reader understand immediately which noun you are talking about.

“Der Chef, der heute nicht im Büro ist, arbeitet sonst sehr viel.”
“The boss who is not in the office today usually works a lot.”

In written German, relative clauses are always separated by commas.

This is true even for short clauses where English might omit commas.

Relative Pronouns: Overview

The relative pronoun refers back to the noun and at the same time shows the grammatical case inside the relative clause. It agrees with the antecedent in gender and number, but its case depends on its function in the relative clause, not in the main clause.

Here is the standard paradigm of relative pronouns in the nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. At B1, nominative, accusative, and dative are the most important.

Relative pronouns: masculine, feminine, neuter, plural

You already know “der, die, das, den, dem, der” as definite articles. This makes relative pronouns a bit easier to remember in the nominative, accusative and dative. Only the plural dative “denen” and the genitive forms “dessen / deren” are new.

Nominative Relative Clauses

Use the nominative when the relative pronoun is the subject of the relative clause.

Masculine:
“Der Kollege, der neu ist, kommt aus Spanien.”
“The colleague who is new comes from Spain.”

Feminine:
“Die Firma, die sehr groß ist, hat viele Mitarbeiter.”
“The company that is very big has many employees.”

Neuter:
“Das Projekt, das wichtig ist, beginnt morgen.”
“The project that is important starts tomorrow.”

Plural:
“Die Mitarbeiter, die oft reisen, sprechen gut Englisch.”
“The employees who travel often speak good English.”

In each example the relative pronoun (der, die, das, die) is the subject of the verb in the relative clause. You can check this by replacing the whole relative clause with a simple sentence.

Example:
“Der Kollege ist neu.”
Subject: “Der Kollege”, verb: “ist”.

Accusative Relative Clauses

Use the accusative when the relative pronoun is the direct object of the verb in the relative clause. The subject is usually another word inside the clause.

Masculine:
“Der Kollege, den ich gestern getroffen habe, arbeitet in der IT.”
“The colleague whom I met yesterday works in IT.”

Feminine:
“Die Chefin, die ich sehr respektiere, ist streng, aber fair.”
“The boss (female) whom I respect a lot is strict but fair.”

Neuter:
“Das Dokument, das du suchst, liegt auf dem Tisch.”
“The document that you are looking for is on the table.”

Plural:
“Die E-Mails, die wir heute bekommen haben, sind wichtig.”
“The emails that we received today are important.”

To find the case, look only at the relative clause.

“den ich gestern getroffen habe”
Subject: ich
Verb: getroffen habe
Object: den (Kollegen) → accusative.

Dative Relative Clauses

Use the dative form when the relative pronoun is an indirect object or when it is governed by a dative preposition inside the relative clause.

Masculine / Neuter: dem
Feminine: der
Plural: denen

Indirect object examples:

Masculine:
“Der Kollege, dem ich geholfen habe, bedankt sich bei mir.”
“The colleague whom I helped thanks me.”

Feminine:
“Die Kundin, der wir das Produkt empfehlen, ist sehr interessiert.”
“The customer (female) to whom we recommend the product is very interested.”

Neuter:
“Das Projekt, dem wir viel Zeit widmen, ist international.”
“The project to which we devote a lot of time is international.”

Plural:
“Die Praktikanten, denen ich die Aufgabe erklärt habe, sind jetzt sicher.”
“The interns to whom I explained the task are confident now.”

Dative with prepositions:

“Das Büro, in dem ich arbeite, ist modern.”
“The office in which I work is modern.”

“Die Abteilung, mit der ich oft telefoniere, sitzt in Berlin.”
“The department with which I often talk on the phone is located in Berlin.”

“Die Kollegen, mit denen ich im Team arbeite, sind flexibel.”
“The colleagues with whom I work in a team are flexible.”

In these examples the prepositions “in” and “mit” require the dative case, so the relative pronoun must be dem, der, dem or denen.

Relative Clauses with Prepositions

Often a preposition stands directly before the relative pronoun. This is very important in written and formal spoken German, for example in work emails or reports.

Structure:
Preposition + relative pronoun + … + verb (at the end of the clause)

Examples in a work context:

“Die Firma, in der ich arbeite, produziert Software.”
“The company in which I work produces software.”

“Der Kunde, mit dem wir verhandeln, ist sehr wichtig.”
“The client with whom we are negotiating is very important.”

“Das Projekt, für das wir verantwortlich sind, endet im Dezember.”
“The project for which we are responsible ends in December.”

“Die Kollegen, auf die wir warten, stecken im Stau.”
“The colleagues for whom we are waiting are stuck in traffic.”

Pay attention to two things:

1. The preposition depends on the verb or expression in the relative clause. For example, “warten auf” always takes “auf.”
2. The case of the relative pronoun depends on the preposition and on the preposition’s normal case rules.

“für” → always accusative:
“für das Projekt” → “für das” in “für das wir verantwortlich sind”

“mit” → always dative:
“mit dem Kunden” → “mit dem” in “mit dem wir verhandeln”

“In der Firma, in der …” → “in” with location → dative.

Verb Position in Relative Clauses

Relative clauses are a type of subordinate clause. This means the conjugated verb goes to the end of the clause.

Main clause:
“Die Mitarbeiter arbeiten heute im Homeoffice.”
“The employees work from home today.”

Relative clause:
“Die Mitarbeiter, die heute im Homeoffice arbeiten, nehmen an der Videokonferenz teil.”
“The employees who are working from home today take part in the video conference.”

More examples:

“Die E-Mail, die ich gestern bekommen habe, ist sehr wichtig.”
“The email that I received yesterday is very important.”

“Der Vertrag, den wir morgen unterschreiben werden, ist langfristig.”
“The contract that we will sign tomorrow is long term.”

“Die Firma, in der er gearbeitet hat, ist insolvent.”
“The company in which he worked is insolvent.”

If you have a sentence with two verbs, like “habe bekommen” or “werde unterschreiben,” both verbs stand at the end of the relative clause, with the conjugated verb last.

“die ich gestern bekommen habe”
“den wir morgen unterschreiben werden”

Comma and Main Clause Order

A relative clause can appear in different positions in the full sentence. It can be in the middle, near the beginning, or at the end. The comma structure must always be correct.

Noun + relative clause in the middle:

“Die Kollegin, die neu ist, arbeitet im Marketing.”
“The colleague who is new works in marketing.”

Relative clause at the end:

“Ich habe eine Kollegin, die im Marketing arbeitet.”
“I have a colleague who works in marketing.”

Relative clause near the beginning, main clause continues after:

“Die Kollegin, die im Marketing arbeitet, ist sehr kreativ.”
“The colleague who works in marketing is very creative.”

If the relative clause stands right after the subject, it is usually separated from the rest of the sentence by a second comma. You can imagine that you could remove the relative clause and the sentence would still be grammatically complete.

“Ich habe eine Kollegin, die im Marketing arbeitet.”
Without the relative clause: “Ich habe eine Kollegin.”

Choosing the Correct Gender and Number

The relative pronoun must agree with the noun in gender and number, even if the English translation uses “who” or “that” for everything.

Examples:

“Der Vertrag, den wir unterschreiben, ist wichtig.”
Masculine singular: der → den.

“Die Rechnung, die ich bezahlen muss, ist hoch.”
Feminine singular: die → die.

“Das Meeting, das morgen stattfindet, ist Pflicht.”
Neuter singular: das → das.

“Die Dokumente, die auf dem Tisch liegen, gehören dem Chef.”
Plural: die → die.

To choose gender and number, you must know the gender and plural form of common nouns, especially in your work and study context.

Restrictive and Non-restrictive Relative Clauses

At B1 level, you do not need advanced terminology, but it is helpful to understand the difference between essential and extra information.

Restrictive (essential) information:

“Die Kollegin, die im Controlling arbeitet, spricht sehr gut Englisch.”
This implies that you mean the colleague who works in controlling, not another colleague. The relative clause helps identify which colleague.

Non-restrictive (extra) information:

“Frau Müller, die im Controlling arbeitet, spricht sehr gut Englisch.”
Here “Frau Müller” is already clear and specific. The relative clause gives additional information about her.

In German both types use commas. In English, commas often indicate extra information, but you cannot see the difference in German only in the punctuation. You must understand it from the context.

Relative Pronouns in the Genitive (Overview Only)

Genitive relative pronouns are common in written German and in more formal or precise language. At B1, it is enough to recognize them and understand their meaning.

Genitive forms:

Masculine / Neuter: dessen
Feminine / Plural: deren

Examples:

“Der Mitarbeiter, dessen Vertrag verlängert wurde, ist sehr zufrieden.”
“The employee whose contract was extended is very satisfied.”

“Die Abteilung, deren Budget gekürzt wurde, muss sparen.”
“The department whose budget was cut has to save money.”

“Die Kollegen, deren Vorschläge wir diskutiert haben, sind nicht im Meeting.”
“The colleagues whose suggestions we discussed are not in the meeting.”

The genitive pronoun shows possession or a similar relationship, similar to “whose” in English.

Relative Clauses in Work and Society Contexts

Relative clauses are particularly useful in professional and social contexts, when you want to describe people’s roles, responsibilities, and relationships more precisely.

Examples with jobs and tasks:

“Die Mitarbeiterin, die für das Marketing zuständig ist, plant eine neue Kampagne.”
“The employee who is responsible for marketing is planning a new campaign.”

“Der Praktikant, den wir letzte Woche eingestellt haben, arbeitet sehr motiviert.”
“The intern whom we hired last week works very motivated.”

“Die Firma, in der ich arbeite, bietet flexible Arbeitszeiten an.”
“The company where I work offers flexible working hours.”

“Die Kollegen, mit denen ich im Projektteam arbeite, kommen aus verschiedenen Ländern.”
“The colleagues with whom I work in the project team come from different countries.”

Examples with society:

“Die Stadt, in der ich lebe, hat viele internationale Unternehmen.”
“The city where I live has many international companies.”

“Die Menschen, die in Schichtarbeit arbeiten, haben oft unregelmäßige Arbeitszeiten.”
“The people who work in shifts often have irregular working hours.”

Strategies for Building Relative Clauses

To build a relative clause correctly, you can follow a sequence of steps.

1. Think of two simple sentences.

“Das ist der Chef.”
“Der Chef arbeitet heute nicht.”

2. Replace the repeated noun in the second sentence with the correct relative pronoun.

“Das ist der Chef. Der arbeitet heute nicht.” → “der” is subject, nominative.

3. Move the relative clause directly after the noun it describes and move the verb to the end.

“Das ist der Chef, der heute nicht arbeitet.”

Another example:

1. Two sentences:
   “Das ist die Kollegin.”
   “Du hast die Kollegin gestern angerufen.”
2. Replace the noun in the second sentence with the pronoun and find its case.

“Du hast die Kollegin gestern angerufen.”
Object: “die Kollegin” → accusative feminine.
Relative pronoun: die.

3. Combine and put the verb at the end of the relative clause.

“Das ist die Kollegin, die du gestern angerufen hast.”

This method helps you decide the correct case and correct verb position.

Typical Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Mistake: Using the wrong case because you look at the main clause instead of the relative clause.

Incorrect:
“Das ist der Kollege, der ich gestern getroffen habe.”
Here the speaker used “der” (nominative), but inside the relative clause “ich” is the subject and “den Kollegen” is the object.

Correct:
“Das ist der Kollege, den ich gestern getroffen habe.”

Mistake: Forgetting to move the verb to the end.

Incorrect:
“Die Firma, die produziert Software, ist sehr erfolgreich.”

Correct:
“Die Firma, die Software produziert, ist sehr erfolgreich.”

Mistake: Putting the preposition at the end of the relative clause like in informal English.

Incorrect:
“Die Abteilung, die ich arbeite in, ist klein.”

Correct:
“Die Abteilung, in der ich arbeite, ist klein.”

Mistake: Forgetting the comma.

Incorrect:
“Die Kollegin die neu ist arbeitet im Vertrieb.”

Correct:
“Die Kollegin, die neu ist, arbeitet im Vertrieb.”

Remember that each of these mistakes makes the sentence less clear. In official communication, such as emails or reports, correct relative clauses are important.

Summary of Core Rules

Relative clauses allow you to connect ideas and describe people, things, and places more exactly. The key points are:

The relative pronoun agrees with the antecedent in gender and number, but its case depends on its role inside the relative clause.
The finite verb always stands at the end of the relative clause.
Relative clauses are always separated by commas.
Prepositions stand directly before the relative pronoun.

If you need to decide the case, look only inside the relative clause and ask who or what is the subject, what is the direct object, and what prepositions are used.

Vocabulary List