24.1 Der words
See 22.2 (p. 36).
(a)dieser ‘this’, jeder ‘each/every’ and jener ‘that’ can be used either as pronouns (see
31.1) or determiners.
When the determiners dieser and jener are used together, dieser denotes relative
proximity and jener relative remoteness:
Dieses Buch ist interessanter als jenes.
This book is more interesting than that one.
Where this contrast is not important, dieser often corresponds to English ‘that’:
Dieses Auto würde ich nicht kaufen.
I wouldn’t buy that car.
Another meaning is ‘former’ (jener) and ‘latter’ (dieser):
Karl und Hans arbeiten schon lange hier. Dieser ist 56 Jahre alt,
jener 58.
Karl and Hans have worked here a long time. The latter is 56, the
former 58.
(b)welcher, mancher, solcher (‘which/what’, ‘many’,’such’) are all declined as der
words:
Aus welcher Stadt kommen Sie?
Which/What town are you from?
Manche Studenten haben finanzielle Probleme.
Many students have financial problems.
In solchen Fällen muss man vorsichtig sein.
One has to be careful in such cases.
(c)derjenige ‘that one’ is written as one word but both parts decline. It is usually
linked to a relative clause (see 10 ):
Wir suchen diejenigen in der Firma, die Interesse an einer
zusätzlichen Qualifikation haben.
We are looking for people in the company interested in gaining an
additional qualification.
Kennst du denjenigen, der gestern den Fritz abgeholt hat?
Do you know that man who picked Fritz up yesterday?
(d)derselbe ‘same’ is again declined like two words but written as one:
Wir machen immer dieselben Aufgaben.
We are always doing the same jobs.
With a shortened preposition (see 18.3, 19.5) the two constituent parts are written
separately:
am selben Ort/im selben Gebäude
at the same place/in the same building
See also^44 (pp. 118–20).
24
NOUNS