Unit 1 of intermediate German from online FSI language courses

[acidfriend47]

10:49 i'm finding it hard to understand the difference between who and the. " der " means The, then yet again it means who? Doesn't who mean " wer"?

[refugee3108]

@acidfriend47 Der can mean both, depending on its function. "Er ist der Mann, der Deutsch studiert," means "He's the man who studies German." First "der" is used as an article, meaning "the" and modifying "Mann." It's then used as a relative pronoun, standing in for "der Mann" in the second part of the sentence, just as "who" replaces "the man." In English we use words like who and whom for this function, whereas German uses the corresponding article.

[christopheclugston]

@acidfriend47 The difference is that 'der' is used in the case you are confused about as a relativizer and is the head of the Relative Phrase that will follow.