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What are German demonstratives and how to use them?

By: Thu Jun 05 2025
German
Determiners, Adjectives

Demonstratives are words like “this” or “that” that you might use when pointing at something. German has three common demonstratives: dies-(this), jen-(that), and der/die/das(this). For example:

demonstrative
Speaker A:

Willst du einen Luftballon?

Do you want a balloon?

Speaker B:

Ja, diesen da! Nein, den Ballon! Papa, jener ist der Beste!

Yes, this one there. No, this balloon! Dad, that one is the best!

In this post, we’ll talk about when and how to use each of these three common demonstrative words. Then, we’ll discuss a few less common ones, including derjenige/diejenige/dasjenige(the one who/which) and derselbe/dieselbe/dasselbe(the same one).

As you’ll see, German demonstratives have more forms than their English counterparts. Worried? Don’t be! Let’s shed some light on the German demonstratives!

Table of Contents

    Demonstrative adjectives vs. demonstrative pronouns

    There are two main types of demonstrative words: demonstrative adjectives and demonstrative pronouns. Understanding the difference will help you use them correctly in German:

    • Demonstrative adjectives stand before a noun.

      demonstrative adjectivenoun

      Ich möchte diesen Luftballon.

      I would like this balloon.

    • Demonstrative pronouns appear on their own and are used instead of a noun.

      demonstrative pronoun

      Ich möchte diesen , nicht jenen.

      I would like this one, not that one.

    When to use the common German demonstratives?

    The distinction between “this” and “that” is not as clear in German as it is in English.

    • Jen-, like “that/those,” is used only for things that are further away and like “that/those” in English, it can be either a pronoun or an adjective. However, this word is mostly only used in formal speech, not in everyday conversation.

    • Dies- and der/die/das are less formal, but they don’t fully clarify whether you’re talking about something nearby, like “this/these” or far away “that/those.”

      To clarify the exact intended meaning, you’ll want to use these demonstratives with adverbs like the ones below:

      hier(here)

      very close to the speaker

      da(there)

      a little ways away from the speaker

      dort(over there)

      far from the speaker

      Notice that these adverbs come after the “this/that” phrase:

      demonstrativeadverb

      Dieser Luftballon dort fliegt weg.

      That balloon over there is flying away.

      Ich kaufe diesen hier.

      I will buy this one here.

      What’s the difference between dies- and der/die/das?

      • Dies- can be a demonstrative pronoun or a demonstrative adjective, usually being translated as “this,” “this one,” “that,” “that one,” “these,” or “those.”

      • Der/die/das can only be a demonstrative pronoun, so it’s generally translated as “the one,” “this,” “this one,” “he,” “she,” or “it.”

      Tip

      If you want to give even more information about where something is, you can add one of modifiers like these to hier, da, and dort:

      • drüben(yonder; on the other side)

      • vorne(in front)

      • hinten(at the back)

    Here are some examples of how these words might be used in formal and informal speech:

    Formal Speech
    Colloquial Speech

    jen- vs. dies- or der/die/das

    dies- or der/die/das + adverbs

    jen-dies-

    Wie alt ist jenes Puppenhaus?

    How old is that dollhouse?

    Jenes dort drüben? Siebzig Jahre.

    That one over there? Seventy years.

    Gefällt dir dieses oder jenes besser?

    Do you like this one or that one better?

    adverbdies-der/die/das

    Wie alt ist dieses Puppenhaus dort?

    How old is that dollhouse there?

    Das da drüben? Siebzig Jahre.

    The one over there? Seventy years.

    Gefällt dir dieses hier oder das dort drüben besser?

    Do you like this one here or that one over there better?

    How to form the common German demonstratives?

    All of the common German demonstratives are declined. This means that they take on certain forms or endings that depend on the gender, number, and case of the noun they precede or replace.

    It will be easier to understand how to form German demonstratives if you’re already familiar with the idea of gender in German and if you know something about the forms of the German definite articles.

    Now, let’s look at how to form dies-, jen-, and der/die/das!

    How to decline ‘dies-’ and ‘jen-’?

    The demonstratives dies- and jen- are grammatically quite similar. Both can have a base form that is always combined with one of the following endings: -er / -e / -es / -en / -em / -es.

    These endings should remind you of the endings for the German definite articles, and they, in fact, follow the same pattern! The forms of adjectives and pronouns are given below.

    Declension of the German demonstratives dies- and jen-
    Case
    Masculine
    Feminine
    Neuter
    Plural

    Nominative

    (subject)

    dieserjener
    diesejene
    diesesjenes
    diesejene

    Accusative

    (direct object)

    diesenjenen
    diesejene
    diesesjenes
    diesejene

    Dative

    (indirect object)

    diesemjenem
    dieserjener
    diesemjenem
    diesemjenem

    Genitive

    (genitive attribute)

    diesesjenes
    dieserjener
    diesesjenes
    dieserjener

    How to decline ‘der/die/das’ as a demonstrative?

    The declined forms of the demonstrative der/die/das are mostly the same as those of the German definite article (“the”), except that the forms in the genitive case and the dative plural have an additional ending. Notice the forms in the highlighted cells below!

    Declension of the German demonstrative pronoun der/die/das
    Case
    Masculine
    Feminine
    Neuter
    Plural

    Nominative

    (subject)

    der
    die
    das
    die

    Accusative

    (direct object)

    den
    die
    das
    die

    Dative

    (indirect object)

    dem
    der
    dem
    denen

    Genitive

    (genitive attribute)

    dessen
    derer / deren*
    dessen
    derer / deren*
    Tip

    What’s the difference between deren and derer?

    In the genitive cells with two forms, use deren when the pronoun stands before the possessed noun and use derer after the noun:

    genitive demonstrativenoun

    Das ist deren Auto.

    That’s the car of those.

    noungenitive demonstrative

    Das ist das Auto derer, die im Restaurant sitzen.

    That’s the car of those who are sitting in the restaurant.

    Please note, though, that genitive demonstratives are hardly ever used in spoken German.

    These special demonstrative forms of der/die/das are only used when this word is used as a demonstrative pronoun (e.g. “I see that”).

    You can use der/die/das like a demonstrative adjective (e.g. “I see that house”), but the forms you’ll use then are just the regular definite article forms, without the special endings in the dative and genitive forms. When you use der/die/das like a demonstrative, you’ll also need to give it some extra stress.

    So here’s a quick summary of the different uses of der/die/das:

    Use of der/die/das
    Formula
    Use case

    Definite article

    der/die/das + noun

    I saw the house.

    Demonstrative adjective

    der/die/das (stressed) + noun

    I saw this house.

    Demonstrative pronoun

    der/die/das alone (with special endings)

    I saw this.

    Let’s check out this dialogue about teddy bears 🧸to see the different uses of der/die/das in action!

    demonstrative pronounnoun (masculine)demonstrative adjectiveadverb
    Speaker A:

    Welchen Teddy kaufst du? Den dort?

    Which teddy bear will you buy? The one over there?

    Speaker B:

    Ich kaufe einen von denen. Deren Fell gefällt mir am besten.

    I will buy one of these. I like the fur of those the best.

    → Notice we use the special demonstrative pronoun form ending in -en!
    Speaker A:

    Meinst du DEN Teddy hier oder DEN Teddy da?

    Do you mean this teddy bear here or that teddy there?

    → Den is stressed! Otherwise it would mean “the.” Also note the adverbs are used to specify distance.
    Speaker B:

    Den hier.

    This one here.

    Speaker A:

    Ach, und ist der für dich?

    Ah, and is it for you?

    Speaker B:

    Nein, der ist ein Geschenk für meine Freundin, weil die Teddys so gern mag.

    No, it’s a gift for my friend, because she likes teddy bears so much.

    → Notice how the gender of the demonstrative pronoun matches the gender of the noun you’re replacing! The first der refers to the teddy bear (m.), the second die refers to the friend (f.)
    Tip

    Using the demonstrative pronouns der or die to refer to people implies familiarity with that person and is used in colloquial speech only.

    You can use it when a person has been mentioned before in the conversation, but don’t use it to talk about a new person, especially if you’re pointing a finger or using a location adverb like da. That’s considered impolite and signals a negative opinion of someone.

    • Colloquial, but fine:
      namedemonstrative pronoun

      Ja, der Jakob. Der ist ein wirklich netter Mensch, stimmts?

      Yeah, that Jacob. He is a truly nice person, right?

    • Impolite:
      demonstrative pronounadverb

      Wer ist die da?

      Who’s that one there?

    Let’s now turn our attention to the two less common but still important demonstratives!

    How to use ‘derjenige’ and ‘derselbe’ in German?

    The demonstratives derjenige(the one who) and derselbe(the same one) are less common German demonstrative adjectives/pronouns. Each of these words is made of two parts: the definite article + an adjective:

    • der/die/das + jengie/jengien

    • der/die/das + selbe/selben

    Here are the basic rules for forming these demonstratives:

    • The definite article matches the gender, number, and case of the noun you’re modifying or replacing.

    • The adjective ends in -e if the article is nominative or is accusative feminine or neuter.

    • The adjective ends in -en in all other situations.

    An example of how to form ‘derselbe’ or ‘derjenige’

    Take a look at this step-by-step example using the word der/die/dasselbe. (The same method works for der/die/dasjenige, as well).

    Let’s say someone says:

    Ich will ein rotes Gummibärchen. Welches willst du?

    I want a red gummy bear. Which do you want?

    We love red gummy bears, too, so we want to say: “I want the same one as you,” referring to that red gummy bear. Here is how we do that:

    • Pick your form of der/die/das.

      We are replacing ein rotes Gummibärchen(a red gummy bear), which is a neuter singular noun. Because we want the gummy bear, our demonstrative pronoun will be the direct object in our sentence, so it should be accusative. So the form of der/die/das is:

      das-

      → neuter, singular, accusative

    • Pick your form of selb- (or jenig-).

      We check whether our article is nominative (any gender), accusative feminine, or accusative neuter. In this case das is accusative neuter, so the ending is -e not -en, resulting in the form:

      selbe

    • Combine the two parts, and the form is: dasselbe

    • And now, let’s put it into a sentence:

      Ich will dasselbe wie du.

      I want the same one as you.

    Check out this table to see all the forms of derselbe and derjenige!

    Tip

    There is a variant of derselbe that means exactly the same thing: der/die/das gleiche. This word follows exactly the same formation pattern, but is spelled as two separate words. For example:

    “Das gleiche” bedeutet das gleiche wie “dasselbe.”

    “Das gleiche” means the same thing as “dasselbe.”

    When to use ‘derjenige’ vs. ‘derselbe’?

    Alright, now that we’ve seen how to form them, let’s take a look at how these demonstratives are used:

    • Use forms of derjenige to say “the one who/that,” or “he/she who.” This demonstrative is often followed by a relative clause in German. Der/die/dasjenige is considered to be formal and is more commonly used in the written language.

      demonstrativerelative clause

      Sind Sie ein Gewinner? Derjenige, der die Frage richtig beantwortet, gewinnt diesen Teddybär!

      Are you a winner? The one who answers the question correctly will win this teddy bear!

      Den ganzen Tag gibt es Preise für diejenigen zu gewinnen, die bei den Spielen mitmachen.

      The whole day, there are prizes to win for those who participate in the games.

      Tip

      In colloquial speech, you can use der/die/das or dies- for this purpose:

      demonstrativerelative clause

      Der, der die Frage richtig beantwortet, gewinnt einen Preis.

      The one who answers the question correctly wins a prize.

    • Use derselbe to express “the very same one.” It is also more common in written/formal German.

      noundemonstrative

      Peter will den blauen Ball und Charlotte will denselben wie er.

      Peter wants the blue ball and Charlotte wants the same one as him.

      Ich habe dasselbe Buch schon einmal bekommen.

      I’ve received the same book once before.

      Tip

      In colloquial German, you might hear the phrase “auch so” combined with the indefinite article instead:

      nounindefinite article + auch so

      Peter will den blauen Ball und Charlotte will auch so einen.

      Peter wants the blue ball and Charlotte wants one like that, too.

    Summing up

    What we’ve read about today:

    • Demonstratives are words like “this,” “that,” “these,” and “those.” Demonstrative adjectives go with a noun (e.g. “this house”) and demonstrative pronouns stand alone.

    • The most common demonstratives in German are dies-, jen-, and der/die/das.

      • Dies- and jen- are formed by adding endings that follow a similar pattern to the definite article endings.

      • The demonstrative pronoun der/die/das usually has the same form as the definite article, just look out for the genitive forms and the dative plural!

    • The definite article can also be used as a demonstrative adjective, but receives special stress.

    • We often use adverbs with German demonstratives to add locational information, since they aren’t as specific as “this” vs. “that” in English.

    • The demonstrative jen-, and the less common demonstratives derjenige and derselbe are more formal, and not commonly used in everyday spoken German.

    • These demonstratives derjenige and derselbe consist of two parts: a form of the definite article + an adjective.

    Ready to practice what you’ve learned? Check out these exercises to practice using German demonstratives! Or, if you’d rather study, check out this chart with all the forms of the German demonstratives and this list of common sayings with German demonstratives! Happy learning!

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