Re: Subordinate clauses

So if man is dative, it becomes the subject of war, but if it's
genitive, dog is the subject? I was thinking that the nominative element
would be the subject, regardless of man's case. What is the rule?

-Aaron

ROMANI
 ITE
DOMUM

Carsten Becker wrote:

> > In German, I think you might say
> >
> > Der Hund mit dem Mann, den ich gesehen habe, war grün.
>
> *lol* No, you cannot say that. It would be the same nonsense as in
> English. Firstly, it would be rather the dog who takes the man out
> instead of the man taking the dog out. Second, "..., war grün." is a
> reference mistake. I'd assume you would mean the man was green.
>
> So an at least grammatically correct version would be, "Der Hund des
> Mannes, den ich gesehen habe, war grün." or colloquially "Der Hund von
> dem Mann, ..." Except you really want to say that it was the man who had
> a green teint.
>
> -- Carsten
>
>
>