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Wandel sich in nem relativ Sätz um:

Ostasien war für die Europäer wegen des Gewürzhandels interessant. Kolumbus wollte nach Ostasien fahren.

Ostasien, wohin Kolumbus fahren wollte, war für die Europäer wegen des Gewürzhandels interessant.

In the above sentence, how do we come to the conclusion that using "wohin" is the correct step?

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  • "Wandel sich in nem relativ Sätz um:"? Not sure what the original task was, but perhaps "Kolumbus wollte nach Ostasien fahren, das für die Europäer wegen des Gewürzhandels interessant war" is an alternative solution. Note: "das", not "was" as the latter would refer to the sentence instead of the word
    – Hagen von Eitzen
    Commented May 29 at 18:25

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  1. Informational content: "es gibt einen Ort" and: "Kolumbus wollte dahin fahren"
  2. Relative clause: replace the demonstrative adverb "dahin" with its wh-counterpart (Relativadverb) "wohin" and put it in front of the clause (and observe verb-last for the embedded clause). You get "(ein Ort,) wohin Kolumbus _ fahren wollte"

The same as a relative clause with relative pronouns:: "Ein Mann, ich kenne ihn." - "(ein Mann,) den ich _ kenne"

The w- / d- Alternation can be looked up in https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/W-Wort

PS: Maybe there is another thing which creates a feeling that the example is difficult: the relative clause depends on a proper name, "Ostasien". In such a combination, there is something of a clash and the relative clause starts behaving as a comment, it's not a restriction. But the grammar of the relative clause is always the same.

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