| 23.5 Relative clauses that specify times or places |
Until now we have seen only relative clauses whose relative
pronoun refers to a single noun, be it a subject or
an object. A relative clause can also specify a place
or a time.
The place, where the accident happened, is known to be
dangerous.
Der Ort, wo*
der Unfall passierte, ist bekanntermaßen gefährlich.
* Many people believe
that wo should
not be used as a relative pronoun. That's not correct.
Wo can be used
as relative pronoun when referring to a place. This
wrong opinion is caused by the fact that in Southern
Germany wo is used as relative pronoun for whatever
object. In Southern Germany you can hear quite often
phrases like:
incorrect: Der
Mann, der wo über die Straße läuft.
incorrect: Der
Mann, wo über die Straße läuft.
This wo, even
if it is used widely is incorrect. A lot of people who
want to be over-over-correct criticise then the use
of the relative pronoun wo
in the whole. But we have to distinguish the
use of the relative pronoun wo
as a relative pronoun for places and times and the use
as a relative pronoun for all objects.
| Following phrases are correct: | |
| Das Zimmer, wo er geschlafen hatte, war leer. | 
|
| = The room, where he has slept, was empty. | |
| Die Zeiten, wo man noch einkaufen konnte, was man wollte, sind vorbei. |
|
| = The times, when one could buy whatever one wanted, are over. | |
| Nevertheless the following phrases are correct as well: | |
| Das Zimmer, in dem er geschlafen hatte, war leer. |
|
| = The room, in which he has slept, was empty. | |
| Die Zeiten, in denen man noch einkaufen konnte, was man wollte, sind vorbei. |
|
| = The times, in which one could buy whatever one wanted, are over. | |
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