{"id":458,"date":"2010-07-13T15:54:21","date_gmt":"2010-07-13T15:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=458"},"modified":"2010-07-22T15:46:04","modified_gmt":"2010-07-22T15:46:04","slug":"mastering-german-word-order-i-main-clauses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/mastering-german-word-order-i-main-clauses\/","title":{"rendered":"Mastering German word order I: main clauses"},"content":{"rendered":"

German word order may appear to be very random and confusing for foreign learners. Thus, I want to try to help you to overcome this challenge.<\/p>\n

To make it as easy as possible for you to follow my explanation, I am going to start with the easiest and most basic sentence structure (containing less information) and progress to the more difficult ones (by adding more information to my sentence).<\/p>\n

These are the words\/phrases I am going to use in the following:<\/p>\n

Verb (V): (schreibe<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 \u201cam writing\u201d<\/p>\n

Object (O): (einen Brief<\/strong>) \u2013 \u201ca letter\u201d<\/p>\n

Subject (S): (ich<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 \u201cI\u201d<\/p>\n

Time (T): (heute<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 \u201ctoday\u201d<\/p>\n

Location (L): (im B\u00fcro<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 \u201cat the office\u201d<\/p>\n

The easiest and most basic sentence structure in German is SUBJECT + VERB.<\/p>\n

Ich<\/span><\/strong> schreibe<\/span>.<\/strong> \u2013 I am writing<\/p>\n

However, \u201cIch schreibe\u201d is yet not a complete sentence. Maybe you are curious what I am writing, thus, I add some more information to my sentence, i.e. attach my OBJECT \u201ceinen Brief\u201d (a letter) to it.<\/p>\n

Ich<\/span><\/strong> schreibe<\/span><\/strong> einen Brief<\/strong>. \u2013 I am writing a letter.<\/p>\n

This word order is quite straightforward in German. Compare: Sie<\/span> liest<\/span> ein Buch. \u2013 She is reading a book. \/ Er<\/span> trinkt<\/span> eine Tasse Kaffee. \u2013 He is drinking a cup of coffee. \/ Sie<\/span> kaufen<\/span> Lebensmittel. \u2013 They are buying groceries.<\/p>\n

But now I would like you to know WHEN and WHERE I am writing my letter. Let\u2019s begin with adding a specific TIME to my sentence. I want to say that I am writing my letter \u201ctoday\u201d (heute). In German I have only one option to do this:<\/p>\n

Ich<\/span><\/strong> schreibe<\/span><\/strong> heute<\/span><\/strong> einen Brief.<\/strong> \u2013 I am writing a letter today.<\/p>\n

That is, I have to insert the specification of time between the verb and the object. The word \u201cheute\u201d cannot be added anywhere else in this sentence.<\/p>\n

Now let me add some information about the LOCATION of my action. I want to say that I am writing my letter \u201cat the office\u201d (im B\u00fcro). I have two options to do this. I can insert the location before or behind the object. This results in the following sentences:<\/p>\n

Ich<\/strong><\/span> <\/strong>schreibe<\/strong><\/span> einen Brief <\/strong>im B\u00fcro<\/strong><\/span>.<\/strong> \u2013 I write a letter at the office.<\/p>\n

or:<\/p>\n

Ich<\/span> schreibe<\/span> im B\u00fcro<\/span> einen Brief.<\/strong> \u2013 I write a letter at the office.<\/p>\n<\/form>\n

When I want to add both information TIME and LOCATION to my sentence, I only have to employ the rules from above simultaneously. Thus, my sentence can look like this:<\/p>\n

Ich<\/span> schreibe<\/span> heute<\/span> im B\u00fcro einen Brief<\/span>.<\/strong> \u2013 Today I write a letter at the office.<\/p>\n

or:<\/p>\n

Ich<\/span> schreibe<\/span> heute<\/span> einen Brief<\/span> im B\u00fcro.<\/strong> \u2013 Today I write a letter at the office.<\/p>\n

Exercise:<\/p>\n

And now it is your turn. Here are some words, which you can chain together to build similar sentences like the ones I have just discussed above. I will provide all possible sentences in my next post.<\/p>\n

1. V: (liest<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 is reading \/\u00a0O: (ein Buch<\/strong>) \u2013 a book \/\u00a0L: (in der Bibliothek<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 in the library \/\u00a0S: (sie<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 she \/\u00a0T: (heute Abend<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 tonight<\/p>\n

2. S: (er<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 he \/\u00a0O: (eine Tasse Kaffee<\/strong>) \u2013 a cup of coffee \/\u00a0T: (morgens<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 in the morning \/\u00a0V: (trinkt<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 is drinking \/\u00a0L: (im Garten<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 in the garden<\/p>\n

3. S: (sie<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 they \/ T: (freitags<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 on Fridays \/ V: (kaufen<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 are buying \/\u00a0O: (Lebensmittel<\/strong>) \u2013 groceries \/ \u00a0L: (im Supermarkt<\/strong><\/span>) \u2013 in the supermarket<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

German word order may appear to be very random and confusing for foreign learners. Thus, I want to try to help you to overcome this challenge. To make it as easy as possible for you to follow my explanation, I am going to start with the easiest and most basic sentence structure (containing less information)…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10206,10205,10203,3356,10204],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-language","tag-active-sentences","tag-declarative-sentences","tag-main-clauses","tag-present-tense","tag-straight-word-order"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t