Relative Clauses
संबंधवाचक उपवाक्य
Relative clauses add extra information about a noun, similar to Hindi's जो...वह structure — but German relative pronouns change by case, and always push the verb to the end of the clause.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Relative pronouns look almost like der/die/das
der Mann, der dort steht (the man who is standing there)
जो आदमी वहाँ खड़ा है (वह...)
Hindi's "जो आदमी वहाँ खड़ा है, वह..." uses a correlative structure (जो...वह), while German attaches the clause right after the noun, without repeating anything: der Mann, der dort steht. German relative pronouns look almost identical to the definite article (der, die, das, plural die), making them easy to recognize. The pronoun's gender/number comes from the noun it refers to (Mann → der, masculine), but its case comes from its role inside the clause. The full table — nominative: der/die/das/die; accusative: den/die/das/die; dative: dem/der/dem/denen; genitive: dessen/deren/dessen/deren. Only the dative plural (denen) and the four genitive forms (dessen/deren) differ from the plain article.
The verb goes all the way to the end — the same order as Hindi
Das ist die Frau, die ich gestern getroffen habe.
यह वह औरत है, जिससे मैं कल मिला।
Relative clauses are subordinate clauses, so the conjugated verb moves to the final position — here habe goes to the very end, after the participle getroffen. Hindi's "जिससे मैं कल मिला" also has the verb at the end, so this order should feel natural. German never drops the relative pronoun (unlike English's 'the woman I met', without 'whom') — German always states die clearly, and the whole clause is set off by commas on both sides.
was as the relative pronoun after alles, nichts, etwas, and whole clauses
Das ist alles, was ich weiß.
यही सब कुछ है जो मुझे पता है।
When the antecedent is an indefinite pronoun (alles, nichts, etwas, vieles), a nominalized superlative (das Beste, was...), or not a specific noun at all but the entire preceding clause, German switches from der/die/das to was — in contexts somewhat similar to Hindi's 'जो' (Er kam zu spät, was mich ärgerte — 'He arrived late, which annoyed me').
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| German | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| der Mann, der... | dair mahn, dair | वह आदमी, जो...vah ādmī, jo... | the man who... |
| die Frau, die... | dee frow, dee | वह औरत, जो...vah aurat, jo... | the woman who... |
| das Kind, das... | dahs kint, dahs | वह बच्चा, जो...vah baccā, jo... | the child that... |
| die Leute, die... | dee LOY-teh, dee | वे लोग, जो...ve log, jo... | the people who... |
| der Mann, dem ich geholfen habe | dair mahn, dame ikh geh-HOL-fen HAH-beh | वह आदमी, जिसकी मैंने मदद कीvah ādmī, jiskī maiñne madad kī | the man whom I helped |
| die Stadt, in der ich wohne | dee shtaht, in dair ikh VOH-neh | वह शहर, जिसमें मैं रहता हूँvah śahar, jismeñ maiñ rahtā hūñ | the city in which I live |
| das Buch, dessen Autor... | dahs bookh, DES-en OW-tor | वह किताब, जिसका लेखक...vah kitāb, jiskā lekhak... | the book whose author... |
| alles, was | AHL-es, vahs | वह सब कुछ, जोvah sab kuch, jo | everything that |