German Word Order

From ZuluNotes - Free Leaving Cert Notes

At many points in the Leaving Cert exam, your knowledge of syntax and word order rules is being tested. However, a good grasp of some basic rules should help you to be accurate at all times. The main thing to remember is that sentences are composed of clauses – main clauses and subordinate clauses – and different rules govern each of these.

Clauses

Main clauses: in a main clause the finite verb is always the second idea:

• 'Frank geht heute abend ins Bett.'
• 'Heute abend geht Frank ins Bett.'
• 'Ins Bett ging gestern abend Frank.'

An exception to this rule is that when the sentence is a question or an order, the verb is the first idea.

• 'Geht Frank heute abend ins Bett? Geh sofort ins Bett!'

It should be noted, though, that if there is a verb is in the second position, all other verbs must go to the end of the clause.

• 'Frank ist um 10.00 Uhr ins Bett gegangen.'
• 'Frank muß um 10.00 Uhr ins Bett gehen.'
• 'Frank wird heute Abend um 9.00 Uhr ins Bett gehen'

Subordinate Clauses: in a subordinate clause the finite verb is always the last word.

• 'Wenn Frank ins Bett geht, liest er sein Buch.'
• 'Ich trinke zwei Flaschen Cola, weil ich Durst habe.'

Conjunctions and word order

The following conjunctions do not affect the position of the verb, but join together two main clauses: 'aber,' 'oder', 'und', 'sondern', 'denn'

• 'Ich esse Vanilleeis, aber ich esse lieber Erdbeereis'.

All other conjunctions introduce a subordinate clause in which the finite verb is sent to the end of the sentence. They include: 'als', 'bevor', 'da', 'dass', 'indem', 'bis', 'damit', 'ehe', 'nachdem', 'ob', 'obgleich', 'seit', 'während', 'weil', 'wenn'.

• ' Wenn ich ein Erdbeereis esse, fühle ich mich gut!’

Word order within a clause

• If both direct and indirect objects within a sentence are pronouns, then the accusative precedes the dative – zB: 'Sie gab es ihm'.
• If both objects are nouns, then the dative precedes the accusative – zB: 'Sie gab dem Jungen den Roman.'
• If you have a noun and pronoun combination, then the pronoun is always in the first position – zB: 'Sie gab ihm den Fotoapparat'.
• If adverbs and adverbial phrases appear in the sentence, the normal word order is Time, Manner, Place – zB: 'Frank fährt nächste Woche mit dem Flugzeug nach Dresden.'
• Generally speaking the adverb comes after the pronoun, unless it starts the sentence – zB: 'Letztes Jahr ist Frank nach New York gefahren'