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Wortstellung
(Word Order) |
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Summary
1.
Word order in German is more flexible than in English.
In particular, sentences need not begin with the subject
(see "inverted word order"
below). There are strict rules determining the position
of the verb, and there are a few other rules to bear in
mind, but in general once you have put the verb(s) in the
right place and chosen between "subject first"
and "inverted" word order, there will often be
a number of acceptable ways for you to arrange the rest
of the sentence.
2.
The main rules for verb position
are:
-
In
general, the verb should be in position 2
-
The
coordinating conjunctions und, aber, oder, denn
& sondern occupy position 0 ==> you will generally
want e.g. "und"; then something in position one; then
the verb.
-
If
the verb is in two parts, the conjugated part goes
in position two, and the "generic part" (infinitive or
past participle) goes at the end of the clause.
-
After
a subordinating conjunction (dass, weil,
wenn, als, ob...) and in a relative clause, the verb
comes at the end.
-
After
a subordinate clause, the subsequent main clause
begins with the verb.
-
Infinitives
with or without "zu" always come at the end
of the clause.
3.
A main clause may start with almost any sentence element
other than the verb (except in questions). If it does not
start with the subject, then the subject will come right
after the verb. This is called inverted
word order. It is good style in German to take advantage
of this flexibility: a text in which every clause begins
with the subject sounds unsophisticated and mechanical.
Inverted word order is not possible in subordinate
clauses. There, the subject will always come right at the
beginning, immediately after the initial subordinating conjunction,
relative pronoun or question word.
4.
You should learn the coordinating, two-part, and subordinating
conjunctions.
These are essential for expressing all but the simplest
ideas, and crucial to understanding German sentences.
5.
Expressions of time generally precede expressions of manner,
which generally precede expressions of place: "time/manner/place."
6.Two
main rules govern the position of nouns
and pronouns in the sentence:
| Accusative
pronouns precede... |
...Dative
nouns and pronouns, which precede... |
...Accusative
nouns |
7.
In this context, you should review the information on negation
and the position of "nicht."
Practice
Exercises
Word
Order (in general)
- Salz
bitte Pay attention to what the sentences mean, so that
you'll get the joke :) Das ist der Witz
des Tages vom 30.8.2002.
Verb
Position
- Die
Stasi hilft This one's very simple. Pay attention to
what the sentences mean, so that you'll get the joke :)
Das ist der Witz
des Tages vom 10.8.2002.
- Der
kluge Hund Slightly more difficult. Pay attention to
what the sentences mean, so that you'll get the joke :)
Das ist der Witz
des Tages vom 5.8.2002.
Conjunctions
- Drill
1 Use this to practice which conjunctions are coordinating
and which are subordinating, and to familiarize yourself
further with their meanings, which are included with each
question.
- Drill
2 Use this to practice the meanings of the conjunctions.
Click on the "weiter" button to move between the
items (numbered from 2 to 2h). You can keep clicking "weiter"
and start again from the beginning until you feel like you've
mastered the meanings of the conjunctions.
- Was
ist logisch? Practice the meanings of the conjunctions
by choosing logical completions to various sentence beginnings.
- Wortstellung
mit Konjunktion Choose the correct word order for the
descriptions of the photos in this exercise.
Practice
Exercises on Other Sites
- Als/Ob/Wenn/Wann
Fill in the correct conjunctions in a series of statements.
This exercise, compiled by Dr. Olaf Böhlke at Creighton
University, includes detailed feedback for each item.
nicht/kein
- Dumme
Fragen Antworten Sie "Nein" auf die dummen
Fragen, die der Computer Ihnen stellt!
Verb
Position
1.
Fundamentally, the verb goes in position TWO. Note
that "second position" does not necessarily mean
"second word"! Note also that initial elements
are not set off by a comma in German:
| Im
Sommer (1) habe (2) ich am Wochenende viel Zeit. |
In
the summer, I have lots of time on the weekend. |
| Oft
(1) mache (2) ich dann spontan eine Reise oder ein Soufflet. |
Often
then (i.e. when I have time in the summer), I'll spontaneously
go on a trip or make a soufflet. |
| Heute
(1) reise (2) ich nach Ulm |
Today,
I am travelling to Ulm. |
| Exception:
ja, nein, and doch: Ja/Nein/Doch, ich (1) reise (2)
nach Ulm |
Yes/No/Oh
yes, I'm travelling to Ulm. |
Note
that coordinating conjunctions (und, denn, sondern, aber,
oder) occupy position 0 [but, after und,
the subject can often be omitted because it is understood,
so the verb often follows it immediately]:
| Gutenberg
erfand [=invented] den Buchdruck, (0) und ((1)
er) (2) druckte [=printed] eine 42zeilige [=42-line]
Bibel. |
Gutenberg
invented printing, and (he) printed a 42-line bible.
|
| Ich
habe nichts erfunden, (0) aber (1) ich (2) lese
gern Comics. |
I
haven't invented anything, but I like to read comics. |
| Ich
bin schön, (0) und (1) du (2) bist hässlich. |
I'm
attractive and you're ugly. |
| Wir
haben kein Geld, (0) aber (1) wir (2) sind glücklich. |
We
don't have any money, bbut we're happy. |
2. If the verb is split into two (or more) parts,
the conjugated part (i.e. the part that has an ending
which agrees with the subject) goes in position two,
and the "generic" part (infinitives, past
participles, separable prefixes) goes to the very end
of the clause. This also applies to nouns that are considered
to belong to the verb (such as "Tennis" in "Tennis
spielen")
| modal
+ infinitive: Ich muß mit der Gummiente
[=rubber duckie] spielen. |
| haben/sein
+ past participle (Perfect or past perfect tense):
Ich habe zu viel Eisbein [=pork knuckles] gegessen. |
| separable
prefixes: Wir sehen bei Boris Becker zu Hause
[=at BB's house] fern. |
| passive:
Das Ei wird viereinhalb Minuten lang gekocht. |
| nouns
that are considered to belong to the verb: Meine
Freunde spielen gern jeden Tag drei Stunden Tennis. |
| future;
subjunctive II with würde; etc.... |
3a.
In a subordinate/dependent clause, the conjugated verb
comes at the end. If the verb is in two parts, the
conjugated verb follows the generic part of the verb
(separable verbs get reunited at the end of the sentence
and have little parties to celebrate, with very tiny
little cakes. They watch movies on tiny TVs and eat microscopic
bits of popcorn.).
The
main types of dependent clauses:
-
clauses
introduced by subordinating conjunctions: dass,
weil, wenn, da, ob, bis, nachdem, bevor, als…
| Ich
habe gehört, dass David Hasselhoff ein Brusttoupee
trägt. |
I've
heard that David Hasselhoff wears a chest toupee. |
| Er
hat Angst, weil die Kinder von 98 Degrees es
stehlen wollen. |
He's
afraid because the kids from 98 Degrees want to steal
it. |
| Das
ist die Frau, mit der ich auf dem Brandenburger
Tor getanzt habe. |
That's
the woman with whom I danced on the Brandenburg Gate.
|
| Die
Euphorie, die wir damals gefühlt haben,
werden wir nie vergessen. |
We'll
never forget the euphoria (which) we felt back then. |
| Ich
wüßte gern, wo mein Skorpion ist. |
I
would like to know where my scorpion is. |
| Es
interessiert niemanden, warum Barney verbrannt
ist. |
No
one is interested (in knowing) why Barney burned. |
| Niemand
kann mir sagen, ob "leichtgläubig"
im Wörterbuch steht. |
Noone
can tell me if "gullible" is in the dictionary.
|
| Hast
du Zeit, meine Hühneraugen [=corns] mit einem
Bimsstein [=pumice stone] zu reiben? |
Do
you have time to pumice my corns? |
| Ich
habe keine Lust, dir mit deinen Füßen
zu helfen. |
I
don't feel like helping you with your feet. |
| Du
solltest es tun, ohne so viel zu meckern. |
You
should do it without grousing so much. |
3b.
If a sentence begins with a dependent clause, that
clause is considered to occupy the first position, the
verb follows immediately, and the subject comes after
the verb (inverted word order). Thus, the verb ending the
initial dependent clause and the verb beginning the subsequent
main clause "meet" at the comma between the two
clauses, as you can see in the following examples:
| Weil
ich müde bin, mache ich viele Fehler. |
Because
I'm tired, I'm making lots of mistakes. |
| Dass
du keine Zeit hast, macht mich sehr traurig. |
That
you don't have any time makes me very sad. |
3c. In general, the
verb follows in position two after a coordinating conjunction
[und, denn, sondern, aber, oder]. In fact, however,
the rule is that after a coordinating conjunction the sentence
continues with the same word order that the previous clause
had. Thus if the previous clause was a dependent clause,
the verb will stay at the end in the und/denn/sondern/aber/oder
clause.
| Wir
tanzen, weil wir froh sind und die Musik
schön ist. |
We're
dancing because we're happy and because the music is
good. |
| Ich
habe John Travoltas Anzug aus Saturday Night Fever gekauft,
obwohl ich kein Geld habe und der
Anzug sehr teuer ist. |
I
bought John Travolta's suit from Saturday Night Fever,
even though I don't have any money and the suit is very
expensive. |
Inverted
Word Order
German sentences need not start with the subject, since
the case system helps to differentiate the sentence subject
from the direct, indirect and genitive objects. When this
happens, inverted word order is used: the subject follows
the verb. The following are equivalent:
| Wir
fahren heute nach Köln. |
Heute
fahren wir nach Köln. |
| Wir
kaufen in der Stadt ein. |
In
der Stadt kaufen wir ein. |
Inverted
word order is used to emphasize parts of the sentence other
than the subject.
There
can be no inverted word order in dependent clauses.
In
dependent clauses, the subject will always follow immediately
after the initial subordinating conjunction, relative pronoun
or question word (infinitive clauses don't have a subject--that's
why they're not mentioned here). See
above for examples.
Time/Manner/Place
There
are exceptions to this rule, but generally expressions of
time precede expressions of manner, which precede expressions
of place:
| Wir
fliegen im Sommer (time) mit Lufthansa (manner) nach
Wien (place). |
In
the summer we are flying to Vienna with Lufthansa. |
| Wir
sind immer (time) gern (manner) dort (place). |
We
always enjoy being there. |
Notes:
Indefinite
time precedes specific time:
| Wir
gehen immer um sechs Uhr spazieren.["um
sechs" is more specific than "immer"] |
| Wir
gehen morgen früh um sechs Uhr spazieren.["um
sechs" is more specific than "früh,"
which is more specific than "morgen"] |
Manner
includes anything that might answer the question "How?"
| Wir
gehen oft barfuß in den Park. |
We
always go to the park barefoot. |
| Dabei
schneiden wir uns manchmal leider schlimm die
Füße. |
In
doing so we unfortunately sometimes cut our feet badly. |
| Dann
müssen wir im Krankenwagen nach Hause fahren. |
Then
we have to drive home in the ambulance. |
Pronouns
and Nouns
Accusative
and dative pronouns generally come "as soon as possible"
(ASAP) after the subject, both in main clauses and in subordinate
clauses.
| Seit
einer Woche haben wir uns nicht mehr gesehen. |
We
haven't seen each other for a week. |
| Kannst
du mich heute Abend treffen? |
Can
you meet me tonight? |
| Hast
du meine Telefonnummer? Ich weiß nicht mehr, ob
ich sie dir gegeben habe. |
Do
you have my phone number? I can't remember if I gave
it to you. |
| Du
hast sie mir vor einem Monat gegeben, aber ich
habe sie in kleine Stücke gerissen. |
You
gave it to me a month ago, but I ripped it into little
pieces. |
If
a pronoun is preceded by a preposition, however (für
mich, bei ihm, nach ihr, unter uns...), then the preposition
+ pronoun combination actually indicates manner or place
and so follows the time/mannner/place rule described above.
In this case you may find prepositions at or near the end
of a sentence:
| Es
ist schon wieder ein Paket für dich [purpose] bei
mir [place] angekommen. |
Another
package for you arrived at my place. |
| Ich
komme heute Nachmittag [time] mit ihm [manner] zu dir
[place]. |
I'm
coming to your place with it [the package] this afternoon. |
There is one more rule. Don't worry if you have trouble
implementing it consciously: this is something students
just get used to gradually as they hear and read more German,
so we will grade you leniently for a while if you get this
wrong: This last rule is that:
| Accusative
pronouns precede... |
...Dative
nouns and pronouns, which precede... |
...Accusative
nouns |
In
the following examples, accusative nouns and pronouns are
in italics, and dative nouns and pronouns are in bold type.
| Ich
gebe dem Mann das Buch. ==> |
Wir
geben es ihm. |
| Wir
zeigen der Frau den BMW. ==> |
Wir
zeigen ihn ihr. |
| Ihr
gebt mir den SPAM. |
|
| Ich
gebe ihn dem Hund. |
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