The most common subordinating conjunctions include weil and obwohl, as well as während (while), bis (until), bevor (before), als (when), wenn (when, if), da (as, because), ob (whether, if) and dass (that). (Even though he’s a selfish idiot, we should be nice to him.) Obwohl er ein egoistischer Idiot ist, sollten wir nett zu ihm sein. See again, with obwohl (although, even though): See the second half of that sentence, after the comma? Notice ist all the way at the end now? That’s because of the subordinating conjunction. (I can’t stand him because he’s a selfish idiot.) Ich kann ihn nicht leiden, weil er ein egoistischer Idiot ist. However, if you add the subordinating conjunction weil (because), you’ll get: Notice the verb ( ist) in the second position there. So in simple German word order, you’d say:Įr ist ein egoistischer Idiot. In direct opposition to the coordinating kind, subordinating conjunctions connect two parts of a sentence of different rank.Īnd, in German, subordinating conjunctions move the first verb in the subordinating clause to the end of that clause. (I'm wearing a jacket because it is cold!) Ich trage einen Mantel, denn es ist kalt! (I don't want to sing, but I like to dance!) Ich will nicht singen aber ich tanze gern! (We cook at home or we go to a restaurant.) Wir kochen zu Hause oder wir gehen ins Restaurant. Here’s a list of the most common coordinating conjunctions and example sentences (notice how each half of the sentences are in SVO order!): Conjunction Coordinating conjunctionsĬoordinating conjunctions connect two parts of a sentence of equal rank, and coordinating conjunctions do not change German word order. In German, different kinds of conjunctions have different effects on the sentence structure. Now, to add more information to your sentences, you’ll often need to use conjunctions. In this case, after the verb comes the subject, then the object follows: This “verb comes second” rule still very much applies if you add in a little adverb phrase to spruce up the start of your sentence. (We’re eating the cake.)ĭas Buch lese ich. The most important part of German word order is that the verb will always come in the second position in the sentence: In German, it’s common to switch the Subject and Object positions in the sentence depending on the information you want to emphasize. Here we have the object ( Den Film), then the verb ( kenne) and then the subject ( ich nicht). However, you’ll likely see another word order as well: Object + Verb + Subject.ĭen Film kenne ich nicht. So the subject ( Ich) does an action ( werfe) to an object ( den Ball). In simple German sentences, you may see the same word order as English: Subject + Verb + Object. This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy. In this post, we’re going to focus on the content of what we want to say, and how to say it in correct German word order.īy the end, you’ll be more comfortable with German sentence structure so you can turn your thoughts into coherent sentences! While learning German grammar does involve some classic textbook-style work and memorization, it doesn’t always transfer smoothly to forming sentences on your own. ApGerman Sentence Structure: The Ultimate Guide to German Word OrderĪs a German learner, you might feel that anything other than the simplest of sentences requires some serious forethought.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |