Der ICE ist ein Zug, der mehr als 300 kmh fährt. Why is der and not den

Question

Der ICE ist ein Zug, der mehr als 300 kmh fährt

Following the verb list from: How to know Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive Verbs in German?, plus the grammar rule that in Relativsatz the verb or the Präposition defines the Kasus, why is "der mehr als..." instead of "den mehr als..."?

What rule am I missing?

'Ein Zug' is nominative, and it is also the subject of the relative clause. It would be accusative object relative clause in the sentence 'Der ICE ist ein Zug, den 300 Passagiere benutzen.' — planetmaker, Oct 19 at 19:32
It's not clear to me why given that rule and that verb list you think the relative pronoun should be in the accusative case. — johnl, Oct 19 at 22:05
I have written a short answer, but I agree with @johnl that your question is really unclear. To know what you have missed, one would have to know how you applied the rules that are known to you. — Carsten S, Oct 20 at 8:19
FYI, it is km∕h (kilometers per hour, i.e. a speed), not km × h (kilometer-hours, a unit I don't even know what it would mean). — Jörg W Mittag, Oct 27 at 8:20
@JörgWMittag I think you undestood what I meant. Yeah I didn't add the slash there but I didn't ask about the unit anyway. — Fabiano Araujo, Nov 10 at 15:49

Carsten S · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-19 21:10:46Z

6

The relative pronoun “der” is the subject of the relative clause, hence it must be in the nominative case.

answered Oct 19 at 21:10

Carsten S

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@Fabiano Araujo - If you combine the clauses you get Der ICE fährt mehr als 300 kmh. This sentence only has a subject and that is always in the nominative. (The linked question isn't really relevant here.) In the example, the pronoun der is standing in for der ICE; they perform the same function in the sentence so the have the same case.
– RDBury
Oct 19 at 22:20

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infinitezero · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-20 09:36:58Z

The question you linked is about objects, not subjects. You would be correct to say

Ich fahre den Zug.

The sentence above can be devided into two sentences.

Der ICE ist ein Zug. Der ICE fährt mehr als 300km/h.

Both times, the ICE is in the nominative case, i.e. the subject of the sentence. Thus, combining those two sentences yields

Der ICE ist ein Zug, der mehr als 300km/h fährt.

Likewise, if you had these two sentences

Der ICE ist ein Zug. Ich nehme den ICE jeden Morgen.

Then you would have

Der ICE ist ein Zug, den ich jeden Morgen nehme.

As a final remark, I would say "der schneller als 300km/h fährt".

DanielJerrehian · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-22 08:51:15Z

0

Due to the Nominative case of how Zug is referenced

answered Oct 22 at 8:51

DanielJerrehian

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Thank you for answering. However, we already have two answers on this question and I do not see how you add anything to them.
– infinitezero
Oct 22 at 9:00
Additionally: explanations like these were a rule/flexion table is mentioned have a big "please link the rule/table for further reading" in it.
– Shegit Brahm
Oct 22 at 9:50

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3 Answers 3