der (relativpronomen)

Who / Which as Subject (Der)

Level 2

Use der to link a noun to a description where der is the 'doer' (subject) of the action. It translates to 'who', 'which', or 'that'.

How It Works

The relative pronoun der is one of the most frequent words in Danish, but it has a very specific job. It introduces a relative clause to provide more information about a noun (the antecedent).

1. The Subject Rule
The most important rule is that der can only be the subject of the relative clause. If you can ask 'Who or what is doing the action in this part of the sentence?' and the answer is the relative pronoun, you can use der.
Example: Manden, der bor her... (The man, who lives here...). Here, 'who' (der) is the one living there.

2. Comparison with 'som'
While som can be both a subject and an object, der is restricted to the subject role. You can almost always replace der with som, but you cannot always replace som with der.

3. Placement and Form

  • Invariable: It stays the same whether you are talking about a man, a house, or multiple people.
  • Position: It usually follows the noun it describes, but it can be separated by short modifiers like prepositional phrases. Example: Manden med den røde hat, der står derovre (The man with the red hat, who is standing over there).
  • No Prepositions: Unlike som, der can never follow a preposition like 'i' (in) or 'til' (to).

4. Pronunciation Note
Relative der is unstressed. This helps distinguish it from the adverb dér (meaning 'there'), which is usually stressed.

Examples (4)

  1. Jeg kender en mand, der taler fem sprog.

    I know a man who speaks five languages.

    Word by Word: I know a man, who speaks five languages.

    Here, 'der' is the subject of the verb 'taler' (speaks).

  2. Her er bogen, der ligger på bordet.

    Here is the book that is lying on the table.

    Word by Word: Here is book-the, that lies on table-the.

    'Der' refers to the book and acts as the subject of 'ligger'.

  3. Vi har to katte, der altid sover.

    We have two cats that always sleep.

    Word by Word: We have two cats, that always sleep.

    This shows that 'der' remains the same even when the noun is plural (katte).

  4. Det er en film, der vandt en pris.

    It is a movie which won a prize.

    Word by Word: It is a movie, that won a prize.

    'Der' is used for inanimate objects just as easily as for people.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'der' as an object.

    Bogen, der jeg læser, er god.
    Bogen, som jeg læser, er god.

    In this sentence, 'jeg' (I) is the subject. The book is the object being read. You must use 'som' or omit the pronoun entirely for objects.

  • Dropping 'der' when it is the subject.

    Jeg har en ven bor i Odense.
    Jeg har en ven, der bor i Odense.

    In English, we can sometimes drop 'that', but in Danish, if the relative pronoun is the subject, it MUST be included.

  • Using 'der' after a preposition.

    Huset, i der jeg bor...
    Huset, som jeg bor i...

    'Der' cannot follow a preposition. You must use 'som' and move the preposition to the end of the clause.

How It Connects

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der (relativpronomen)Level 2Who / Which as Subject (Der)

Learn This First

To use 'der' as a relative pronoun, you first need to understand how relative clauses work in Danish using 'som'. You also need to be able to identify the subject of a clause and understand the word order rules for subordinate clauses, as relative clauses follow these rules.

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