Relative Clause Word Order

Relative clauses function as adjectives for a noun (the antecedent). Because they are a type of subordinate clause, they follow specific word order rules.

1. Placement:
A relative clause should generally be placed immediately after the noun it modifies (the antecedent) (e.g., 'Der Mann, der dort steht, ist mein Onkel.' - 'The man who is standing there is my uncle.'). However, if placing the relative clause immediately after the noun would awkwardly interrupt the main clause, the relative clause is frequently pushed to the very end of the sentence (Extraposition) (e.g., 'Ich habe den Mann gesehen, der dort steht.' - 'I saw the man who is standing there.').

2. Subject Placement:
If the relative pronoun is not the subject of the relative clause (e.g., when it is an accusative or dative object), a pronoun subject typically must follow immediately after the relative pronoun or prepositional phrase (e.g., 'Das ist der Film, den ich gestern gesehen habe.' - 'That is the film that I saw yesterday.'). However, if the subject is a noun, object pronouns usually precede it (e.g., 'Das ist der Film, den mir mein Vater empfohlen hat.' - 'That is the film that my father recommended to me.'). This is a strong preference, not a fixed rule: keeping the noun subject first is equally correct and very common (e.g., 'Das ist der Film, den mein Vater mir empfohlen hat.').

3. The Verb-Final Rule:
In a relative clause, the conjugated verb must usually be the last word in the clause (not necessarily the sentence) (e.g., 'Das ist der Film, der sehr spannend ist.' - 'That is the film that is very exciting.'). An exception is the Nachfeld (Afterfield), where elements like comparisons or long prepositional phrases can follow the conjugated verb (e.g., 'Das ist der Mann, der größer ist als ich.' - 'That is the man who is taller than me.').

4. Separable Verbs:
When using separable verbs in a relative clause, the prefix is not separated from the verb stem because the verb is already at the end of the clause (e.g., 'Das ist der Zug, der um 10 Uhr ankommt.' - 'That is the train that arrives at 10 o'clock.').

5. Prepositional Phrases:
If a relative clause requires a preposition, the entire prepositional phrase must move to the very beginning of the relative clause. The preposition usually comes immediately before the relative pronoun (e.g., 'Das Haus, in dem ich wohne' - 'the house in which I live'). Note that postpositions must come after the relative pronoun (e.g., 'Die Frau, der gegenüber ich saß...' - 'The woman opposite whom I sat...'). When the antecedent is a thing or an abstract idea rather than a person, German sometimes replaces [preposition + relative pronoun] with a wo-compound (e.g., 'das Thema, worüber wir gesprochen haben' - 'the topic we talked about'). For people this is not possible, so the preposition and pronoun stay (e.g., 'der Mann, mit dem ich gesprochen habe' - 'the man I spoke with').

6. Genitive Relative Pronouns:
When using a genitive relative pronoun (dessen/deren), the noun phrase belonging to the pronoun must follow it and loses its article. Note that adjectives following dessen/deren take strong adjective endings because these pronouns act as zero-articles (e.g., 'Der Mann, dessen neues Auto gestohlen wurde...' - 'The man whose new car was stolen...'). If a preposition governs a genitive relative phrase, the order is [Preposition] + [dessen/deren] + [Adjective(s)] + [Noun] (e.g., 'Das Haus, in dessen großem Garten wir saßen...' - 'The house in whose large garden we sat...').

7. The Double Infinitive Exception:
If a double infinitive (Ersatzinfinitiv) is used, the conjugated auxiliary verb (usually 'haben') does not go to the very end. Instead, it moves to the position before the two infinitives (e.g., '...das er hat machen müssen' - '...that he had to do').

8. Punctuation:
German always requires a comma to separate the relative clause from the main clause. The comma goes before the relative pronoun, or before the preposition if the relative clause starts with one. If the relative clause is embedded in the middle of a main clause, it must be enclosed by commas on both sides (e.g., 'Das Haus, in dem ich wohne, ist alt.' - 'The house in which I live is old.').

9. The No-Drop Rule:
Unlike in English, where relative pronouns can often be omitted (e.g., 'The film I saw'), in German, the relative pronoun can never be dropped (e.g., 'Der Film, den ich gesehen habe.' - 'The film that I saw.').

Note on Pronouns:
The golden rule of relative clauses is: The relative pronoun takes its gender and number from the antecedent (the noun it modifies), but its case from its grammatical role inside the relative clause. While focusing on word order, it is important to select the correct relative pronoun. Note that both 'deren' and 'derer' can be correct when a genitive relative pronoun stands alone (e.g., as a genitive object), though 'deren' is more common in modern Standard German.