hello! I have a question. When do you use "jene/jener/jenes" and how would you explain the meaning? I don't think I've ever heard someone use it but I definitely came across in books. My DaZ teacher said it's like "the opposite of dieses" (as in some abstract non-specific version of "that"?? or also "the aforementioned") but I didn't really understand what she meant lmao. Do you have any examples? Thank you in advance!
i started writing this response weeks ago but then it slipped my mind to finish, i apologize!
great question! and certainly difficult to get a hang of as "jener/jene/jenes" is not used all that often
I get where your teacher is coming from with her explanation and i hope I can help a little!
it's true that in most cases, "jene/r/s" is used in distinguishing sth from an alternative (with "diese/r/s")
dwds describes the two like this:
dieser/diese/dieses: weist auf eine bereits bekannte oder noch zu kennzeichnende Größe hin, die dem Sprecher räumlich oder in der Vorstellung nahe ist; nachdrücklicher als ²der, ²die, ²das
jener/jene/jenes: weist auf eine bereits bekannte oder noch zu kennzeichnende Größe hin, die dem Sprecher räumlich oder in der Vorstellung fern ist
so their main distinction is how (spacially or conceptionally) close or distanced someone or something is from the listener and/or the speaker
like your teacher said, it's a little like "this or that", with "this" being considered "closer" than "that" (though the objects that are being referred to might be of equal distance to the speaker)
but it is important to note that it's not always together with "diese/r/s", it might as well appear on its own, simply referring to something conceptionally distance (for example common in legislature)
@"aforementioned": it is also only used when referring to sth that was previously stated or is about to be stated (see in the definition "eine bereits bekannte oder noch zu kennzeichnende Größe)
so you'd not encounter "jener" without any info on what it is referring to
it's also sometimes used (albeit rarely nowadays) as a synonym to "the one/the other" - die eine/die andere -> diese/jene (true for all genders)
I suggest checking out the examples on the dwds page to get an idea of the usage (click underlined or use: https://www.dwds.de/wb/jene)
I hope this could help a little (despite being super late)!! Lmk if you have more questions!
