Derjenige, diejenige and dasjenige
Derjenige, diejenige and dasjenige can be translated in many ways, such as "the one who", "the one which", "whoever", "whichever", "he who" or "she who". They either replace a noun or are used as articles to accompany a noun.
Das Lied gefällt den Personen, die Jazz mögen. → Das Lied gefällt denjenigen, die Jazz mögen.
People who like jazz like the song. → Those who like jazz like the song.
Das Lied gefällt nur denjenigen Gästen, die Jazz mögen. (Artikel)
Only those guests who like jazz like the song.
The word derjenige is made up of two parts, der + jenige (and the other words follow a similar pattern). The der part acts like a normal definite article (der, die, das, etc.), and the jenige part takes an ending like an adjective:
| Nominativ | Akkusativ | Dativ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| maskulin | derjenige | denjenigen | demjenigen |
| feminin | diejenige | diejenige | derjenigen |
| neutrum | dasjenige | dasjenige | demjenigen |
| Plural | diejenigen | diejenigen | denjenigen |
Note: these words are generally followed by a relative pronoun such as der, die or das (meaning "who" or "which"). They can also be directly replaced by der, die, das, etc.
Derjenige, der sie begleitet, heißt Tim. → Der, der sie begleitet, heißt Tim.
The man who is accompanying her is called Tim. (Both sentences have the same meaning.)
Diejenigen, die mich anrufen. → Die, die mich anrufen.
Those (people) who are calling me. (Both sentences have the same meaning.)
Still facing difficulties with 'Derjenige, diejenige and dasjenige'? Learn and enhance your German grammar through our online German course. Start with a free test and improve today!
What our users say:
Improve your German further and test Wunderbla, online German lessons.
