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WORD GRAMMAR
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Verb
- Conjugation in indicative
- Person and number
- Tenses
- Voice
- Mood
- Verb categories
- Valency
- Semantic categories of verbs
- Finite / non-finite verb forms
- Noun
- Adjective
- Adverb
- Article
- Pronoun
- Preposition
- Conjunction
- Particle
- Interjection
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Verb
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SENTENCE GRAMMAR
- Clause types
- Complex clauses
- Constituents of a sentence
- Sentence structure
- Word order in a sentence
- Negation
Relative clauses with wer/was
Pronouns wer and was can also introduce relative clauses. The pronoun wer refers to people, while the pronoun was to things, facts etc. The pronouns wer and was do not differ, neither in gender nor in number. They are inflected as follows.
person
|
non-person
|
|
nominative |
wer
|
was
|
genitive |
wessen
|
wessen
|
dative |
wem
|
(was)*
|
accusative |
wen
|
was
|
* The dative case type of was is only used in everyday language.
Examples | |
Wer keinen Pass hat, kann die Grenze nicht übertreten. |
Was sehr interessant ist, ist das archäologische Museum. |
Wem das Essen nicht schmeckt, der zahlt nicht dafür. | Was du gesagt hast, ist absurd. |
Wen ich zuerst treffe, frage ich. | Was ich brauche, ist in meiner Tasche. |
person | non-person |
Notes
1. Wer can be used as a relative pronoun in the place of a demonstrative and a relative pronoun. It refers only to people.
Examples | ||
Derjenige, der keinen Pass hat, kann die Grenze nicht übertreten. |
=
|
Wer keinen Pass hat, (der)* kann die Grenze nicht übertreten. |
Derjenige, dem das Essen nicht schmeckt, zahlt nicht dafür. |
=
|
Wem das Essen nicht schmeckt, der* zahlt nicht dafür. |
* When the case of the relative and the demonstrative pronoun do not match, the main clause that follows must be introduced by the demonstrative pronoun; otherwise, the pronoun can be omitted.
2. Was can be used as a relative pronoun in the place of the demonstrative pronoun das and a relative pronoun. It refers only to things, facts etc.
Examples | ||
Das, was sehr interessant ist, ist das archäologische Museum. |
=
|
Was sehr interessant ist, ist das archäologische Museum. |
Das, was er verlangt, ist absurd. |
=
|
Was er verlangt, ist absurd. |