DESSEN Meaning and
Definition
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"Dessen" is a German pronoun that translates to "whose" or "of which" in English. It is used to refer to the possessive form of the feminine, neuter, or plural pronouns "sie" (she), "es" (it), or "sie" (they) respectively. It indicates possession or ownership and is often used when describing someone or something.
"Dessen" is commonly used to denote ownership when referring to an object or a person. It is used when discussing possessions, characteristics, or relationships, and it requires the use of a genitive case in German grammar. For example, "Das Mädchen, dessen Buch ich ausgeliehen habe" translates to "The girl whose book I borrowed."
In German, "dessen" agrees with the gender and number of the noun it refers to. It is also inflected according to the case in which it appears in a sentence. The different forms of "dessen" include "dessen" (masculine singular), "dessen" (neuter singular), "dessen" (feminine singular), and "derer" (plural for all genders).
Overall, "dessen" is a pronoun that is used to indicate possession or ownership. It allows German speakers to express relationships between objects, people, or ideas in a precise and grammatically correct manner.
Etymology of DESSEN
The word dessen is derived from the Middle High German term dessem, which in turn comes from the Old High German term desan or dessem. It is a genitive form of the pronoun dër (meaning he or that), specifically used in the third person singular and masculine gender. Over time, the form evolved to dessen in modern German, retaining its function as a genitive pronoun meaning his, of him, or whose.
