How do I learn the German word order?

1. Learn which conjunctions change word order in German and which don't

Ich renne vorwärts und ich werfe den Ball.
Ich kann ihn nicht leiden, weil er so ein egoistischer Idiot ist.
Er ist so ein egoistischer Idiot.
Ich habe auch schon immer gedacht, dass er ein egoistischer Idiot ist.

Hereof, what is German word order?

Word order (also called syntax) in German is usually driven by the placement of the verb. The verb in German can be in the second position (most common), initial position (verb first), and clause-final position. As you can see, the finite verb (the conjugated verb) is in second place in each sentence.

Also Know, what does Dass do to word order in German? The conjunction “dass” (that) introduces a subordinate clause, which requires a rearranging of the S-P-O word order. If you don't do that, your statement would hardly make any sense and your subordinate clause would no longer be a subordinate clause but a main clause.

Beside above, does word order matter in German?

In German, there is a clear structure to a sentence, so word order really matters. In German, the verb is always the second idea in a sentence. But this does not necessarily mean that it is the second word.

Does Dann change word order in German?

You can use conjunctions like dann (an adverbial conjunction, btw) to create kind of connection between the actions. In this case, German grammar requires you to swap word-order to P-S-O. Erst geht er ins Wohnzimmer. Dann macht er den Fernseher an.

31 Related Question Answers Found

Is und a verb kicker?

The verb gets "kicked" to the end of the clause, so subordinating conjunctions are sometimes called verb kickers. In the previous class, students reviewed coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn, and sondern) and also recorded the meaning of some of the most common subordinating conjunctions (there are lots!).

What is the difference between Weil and Denn?

Denn and weil are both words that mean 'because. ' They are synonyms that can be used interchangeably. However, weil is a subordinating conjunction, unlike denn, which a coordinating conjunction. While denn does not affect the word order of the sentence, weil sends the conjugated verb to the end of the clause.

How do you use WENN in a sentence in German?

The when of the first sentence is in the future, hence it is wenn, the when in the second sentence is in past hence it is als. Wenn ich 40 bin, will ich eine Katze haben. Als ich 10 war, hatte ich eine Katze.

What are prepositions in German?

A preposition is a short word, or group of words, which links a noun phrase to the remainder of a sentence. More specifically, a preposition will typically describe a movement or direction, a location or position, or some other relationship between the object and the rest of the sentence.

What is a dash example?

Dashes, like commas, semicolons, colons, ellipses, and parentheses, indicate added emphasis, an interruption, or an abrupt change of thought. Note how dashes subtly change the tone of the following sentences: Examples: You are the friend, the only friend, who offered to help me.

How do you use subordinating conjunctions in German?

The rest of the conjunctions act as subordinating, and interrogative words can also act as subordinating conjunctions. Some examples are als-when, bevor-before, bis-until, damit-so that, dass-that, wenn-if/when, ob-whether, obwohl-although, nachdem-after, da-since, während-while, weil-because, and wie-how.

What are personal pronouns in German?

The personal (subject) pronouns in German are (ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, Sie, sie.), and make the equivalent of (I, you, he, she, it, we, you people, you all, they) in English, usually they take the nominative form, since they're the subject of the sentence.

What is basic word order?

Basic word order. From FrathWiki. Basic word order refers to the sequence in which the subject (S), the object (O) and the verb (V) of a transitive sentence occur in speech. There are six possible orders: SOV, SVO, VSO, VOS, OVS and OSV.

What is TeKaMoLo?

Probably the most famous one is probably the TeKaMoLo-rule. TeKaMoLo is short for the German words temporal, kausal, modal and lokal. The rule basically says that the order of boxes in a German sentence usually is: Te – ka – mo – lo. when – why – how – where.

Is Deswegen subordinating?

1 Answer. Well, Duden doesn't define it as a conjunction whatsoever. But as an adverb. Now, addressing your question: If you look at the word order, you will notice that sentences containing "deswegen" follow the word order of coordinating conjunctions — the finite verb is in the second position, that is.

Why is the verb at the end in German?

In German the conjugated verb must be in the second position, while the other verb almost always goes at the end of the phrase: Ich werde das Buch bald lesen. In a subordinate clause, the verbs all go at the end of the phrase.

How do you ask questions in German?

How to Ask Questions in German

Wer? (Who?)
Was? (What?)
Wann? (When?)
Wo? (Where?)
Warum? (Why?)
Wie? (How?)
Wie viel? (How much?)
Wie viele? (How many?)

How many subordinate clauses are in a simple sentence?

A sentence consisting of at least one dependent clause and at least two independent clauses may be called a complex-compound sentence or compound-complex sentence. Sentence 1 is an example of a simple sentence.

How do you use Nachdem in German?

Sucos are ALWAYS at the beginning of a phrase and German sucos have the extra quirk of sending the verb to the very end. Here are the sucos for expressing the order of events: bevor, ehe (rare) – before (as in “Before I do something”) nachdem – after (as in “After I did something”)

Where do adverbs go in German?

So in terms of German word order, verbs are (typically) placed in second position, with subjects most often occupying first. Adverbs should be placed relatively near the verbs they're modifying, but should follow the TMP pattern: time, manner and place.

How do you write past tense in German?

The simple past tense endings are: -te (ich, er/sie/es), -test (du), -tet (ihr), and -ten (Sie, wir, sie [pl.]). Unlike English, the past tense ending is not always the same: I played = ich spielte, we played = wir spielten.

How do you use two verbs in a sentence in German?

When you have two verbs in a German sentence, you place the conjugated verb in the second position and the unconjugated verb at the end of the sentence. Note – A conjugated verb is a verb that changes to indicate the gender, tense, number, person or other aspects of the sentence.