Demonstrative pronouns in German

In German grammar, the demonstrative pronoun (Demonstrativpronomen) is one of the grammatical elements that often causes confusion for learners. Today's article will help you learn about demonstrative pronouns and the key points to keep in mind when using this type of pronoun.

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1. A demonstrative pronoun (Demonstrativpronomen) is a pronoun used to emphasize a person or thing in order to avoid repeating a noun in a sentence.

2. Demonstrative pronouns include:

a. The demonstrative pronoun der, die, das

• Table of the demonstrative pronoun der, die, das:

• The demonstrative pronoun "der, die, das" refers to the noun it wishes to emphasize.

Magst du das Handy? (Do you like the phone?)

- Ja, das mag ich. (Yes, I like it.)

       → ''das'' is a demonstrative pronoun. It is used to replace the neuter noun ''das Handy'' in the Akkusativ.Magst du den Laptop? (Do you like the laptop?)

– Ja, den mag ich. (Yes, I like it)

       → In this position, the demonstrative pronoun "den" is used to replace the masculine noun ''der Laptop'' in the Akkusativ.

• The demonstrative pronoun "das" can replace an entire sentence

Tauschen sie dieses Handy gegen mein Geld? - Das können wir machen.

(Would you exchange this phone for my money? - We can do that.)

       → The demonstrative pronoun "das" is used to replace the entire sentence "Tauschen sie dieses Handy gegen mein Geld?"

• The demonstrative pronoun "das" is often used together with the verb sein. It often combines with the adverbs dort, hier and da to indicate a specific location.

Was ist das dort? – Das ist ein Auto.

(What is that over there? – That is a car.)

b. Demonstrative pronouns dies-/jen-

• These two demonstrative pronouns are used to refer to objects in front of the speaker or to distinguish between objects being mentioned. Dies- is used to refer to closer objects, jen- to more distant ones.

Dieses Auto gefällt mir besser als jenes. (I like this car better than that one.)

→ In this case, ''dieses Auto" is the one that is closer and being pointed to. ''jenes'' is the one that is further away.

• Declension endings for dies-/jen-: Same as the definite article (bestimmte Artikel)

!!!Note:

• The demonstrative pronoun "dies" (which is the shortened form of dieses) and "jenes" are used like the demonstrative pronoun "das", when they appear together with the verb sein.

Dies ist mein Ball. (This is my ball.)

Jenes ist ihr Stift. (That is her pen.)

• The demonstrative pronoun ''dies'' can replace an entire sentence, just like the demonstrative pronoun "das"

Er ist nicht zur Besprechung gekommen. Dies hat alle überrascht.

(He did not come to the meeting. This surprised everyone.)

       &rar r; In the example above, the demonstrative pronoun "dies" is used to replace the entire sentence "Er ist nicht zur Besprechung gekommen"

c. Demonstrative pronouns derselbe, dieselbe, dasselbe

• The demonstrative pronouns derselbe, dieselbe, dasselbe describe a person or thing that was mentioned previously, or a person or thing that is the same.

• The table of demonstrative pronouns derselbe, dieselbe, dasselbe is as follows:

Die Schauspielerin heißt Emma Watson. Dieselbe haben die beide Filme.

(The actress's name is Emma Watson. Both films have the same actress.)

→ ''dieselbe" replaces ''Emma Watson'' - which was mentioned previously

d. Demonstrative pronoun derjenige/diejenige/dasjenige

• Used for greater emphasis compared to der, die, das, and can be used to clarify when a sentence construction with a relative clause is ambiguous.

Ich gebe die Magazinen, die ich gelesen habe, meinem Bruder.

→ This sentence can be understood in 2 ways:

I have read all the magazines and I am giving those magazines to my brother.

Or: I am giving my brother the magazines that I have read, and the ones I haven't read I am keeping.

​→ If you want to express the second meaning more clearly, you need to use diejenige: Ich gebe diejenigen Zeitschriften, die ich gelesen habe, meinem Bruder.- When declining this type of determiner, we split it into 2 parts and follow the adjective declension rules: derjenige = der + jenige