German Sentence Structure

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German grammar

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German sentence structureFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

German sentence structure is somewhat more complex than that of many

other European languages, with phrases regularly inverted for both

questions and subordinate phrases. Generally the main sentence structurerule to remember is that the verb is always the second and last element.

Contents

1 Main Sentence

1.1 Statement

1.1.1 Inversion

1.2 Questions

1.2.1 Yes/No questions1.2.2 Asking for subject or object

1.2.3 Asking for a predicative

1.2.3.1 Asking for an adverb

1.2.4 Asking for a possessor

1.2.5 Asking for an adverb

1.2.6 Asking for position or adverbial clause

1.3 Commands

2 Subordinate clauses

2.1 Subordinate sentence structure

2.2 Clauses with dass2.3 Indirect questions with ob

2.4 Specific indirect question

2.5 Relative clauses

2.6 Adverbial clauses

Main Sentence

If a verb has a separable prefix, this prefix is moved to the end of the sentence.

Ich werde den Mll wegwerfen. ("I will throw away the rubbish.", literally "I will the rubbish

away-throw.")

Ich werfe den Mll weg. (statement) ("I'm throwing away / I throw away the rubbish.", literally

"I throw the rubbish away.")

Werfe ich den Mll weg? (question) ("Am I throwing away the rubbish?", literally "Throw I

the rubbish away?")

Wirf den Mll weg! (command, familiar form) ("Throw away the rubbish!", literally "Throw

the rubbish away!")

Statement

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A normal statement is quite simple to construct. First the Subject, then the conjugated verb, at last

the rest of the infinitive without this verb.

Ich + den Baum sehen ->Ich sehe den Baum.

("I + to see the tree" -> I see the tree.)

Ein Text+ geschrieben werden ->Ein Text wird geschrieben

("A text + to be written -> A text is being written.")

Wir + den Raum verlassen -> Wir verlassen den Raum

("we + to leave the room -> We leave the room.")

Der Knig + eine Burg bauen lassen ->Der Knig lsst eine Burg bauen.

("the king + to have a castle built -> The king has a castle built.")

If the conjugated verb has a separable prefix, this prefix stays at the end of the sentence.

Ich+

den Mll wegwerfen->

Ich werfe den Mll weg.

("I + to dispose of the trash -> I dispose of the trash.")

In addition, past participles in the perfect tenses fall at the end of the sentence, with the conjugated

auxiliary verb (Hilfsverb) in the second position of the sentence.

Conventional German syntax presents information within a sentence in the following order:

Wichtigstes (what is the most important thing of the things following? *, **)

Was (what? the conjugated verb***)

Wer (who? the subject)

Wem (to/for whom - dative object)Wann (when - time)

Warum (why - reason)

Wie (how - manner)

Wo (where - place)

Wen (whom - accusative object)

Wohin/Woher (to/from where)

Verb, nochmal (first part of the separable verb)

*The word "da" with the meaning "then suddenly" must take the first place. A "dann", then, does so often, but not

necessarily; otherwise, the Subject will do.

**If the verb is most important, the first part of the separable verb is placed here, but even then separated from the second

part. If the verb is not separable or periphrastical, the infinitive will do.

***and in this case, a form of "tun" is legitimately inserted for the conjugated verb, as inArbeiten tun wir. "Working, that's

what we do."

Wir gehen am Freitag miteinander ins Kino. Literally,

"We go on Friday together to the movies."

Wegen ihres Jahrestages bereiten wir unseren Eltern eine Exkursion (Ausflug) nach Mnchen vor.

Literally,

We are planning for our parents today because of their anniversary a trip to Munich.


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Comparisons can be put after both parts of the verb, or before the place of its later part. So:

Er ist grer gewesen als ich. /Er war grer als ich. "He was greater than me."

OR

Er ist grer als ich gewesen

Additionally, German often structures a sentence according to increasing news value. So:

Wir gehen am Donnerstag ins Kino.We're going to the movies on Thursday. BUT

An welchem Tag gehen wir ins Kino?(On) What day are we going to the movies?

m Donnerstag gehen wir ins Kino. OR Wir gehen am Donnerstag ins Kino.On Thursday we're

going to the movies. OR We're going on Thursday to the movies."

Additionally, when the accusative object is a pronoun, it moves in front of the dative object. Florian

gibt mir morgen das Buch. "Florian is giving me tomorrow the book." BUT Florian gibt es mir

morgen. "Florian is giving it to me tomorrow."

Inversion

By an inversion you emphasize a component of the sentence: an adverbial phrase, a predicative or an

object, or even an inner verbal phrase. The subject phrase, at the beginning of an indicative

unstressed sentence, is moved directly behind the conjugated verb, and the component to be

emphasized is moved to the beginning of the sentence. The conjugated verb is always the second

sentence element in indicative statements.

"Ich fliege schnell." - "I fly fast." - unstressed

"Schnell fliege ich." - "I flyfast." - stressed 'fast'

"Du bist wunderschn." - "You are lovely." - unstressed

"Wunderschn bist du." - "You are lovely." - stressed 'lovely'

"Ich bin gelaufen." - "I ran." - unstressed

"Gelaufen bin ich!" - "I ran!" - stressed 'ran'

Questions

Questions may be divided into yes/no questions, asking for the truthfulness of a statement, and

specific questions, which ask for a concrete aspect of a statement.

Specific questions are similar to inverted statements. They begin with a question word, then there is

the conjugated verb, followed by the subject (if there is one), and the rest of the sentence follows.

Was machst du jetzt? ("What are you doing now?")

Wer geht ins Kino? ("Who is going to the cinema?" -- In this sentence, the interrogative

pronoun wer serves as the subject)

Yes/No questions

See also: yes-no question


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This kind of question is similar to the inversion: you put the inflected verb at the beginning of the

(not inverted) sentence.

Du kommst. - Kommst du? ("You are coming - Are you coming?")

Ich habe geschlafen. -Habe ich geschlafen? ("I slept - Did I sleep?")

Ich werde das Spiel beenden. - Werde ich das Spiel beenden? ("I'm going to (lit. 'I will') finish

the game - Am I going to (lit. 'Will I') finish the game?")Du wirfst den Torwart raus. - Wirfst du den Torwart raus? ("You are throwing the goalkeeper

out - Are you throwing the goalkeeper out?")

Asking for subject or object

In a normal question, you replace the subject phrase or object phrase with a corresponding

interrogative pronoun, then move it to the beginning of the sentence, like an inversion. Theoretically,

you must use the interrogative pronoun ofwelcher, welche, welches or a nominal phrase with the

interrogative article.

Du hast deiner Frau einen Ring gekauft. ("You bought your wife a ring.")

- Welchen hast du deiner Frau gekauft? ("Which one did you buy your wife?")

Du hast deiner Frau einen roten Ring gekauft. ("You bought your wife a red ring.")

- Welchen Ring hast du deiner Frau gekauft? ("Which ring did you buy your wife?")


- Welchen Roten hast du deiner Frau gekauft? ("Which red one did you buy your

wife?")


- Welchen roten Ring hast du deiner Frau gekauft? ("Which red ring did you buy your

wife?")

But the usage of this pronoun implies that the speaker knows both the gender and number of the

unknown object. So, practically, you replace these pronouns by short forms.

Du hast deiner Frau einen Ring gekauft. ("You bought your wife a ring.")

- Was hast du deiner Frau gekauft? ("What did you buy your wife?")

person thing

nominative wer was

genitive (object) wessen wessen

dative wem wem

accusative wen was

Regardless of whether you use the full pronoun or the short form, the genitive case is practically only

used for genitive objects. SeeAsking for a possessor.

Asking for a predicative

You ask for a predicative with the either interrogative pronoun Was or, if knowing it is not a nominal

phrase, Wie.


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Er ist schnell - Wie/Was ist er? ("He's fast - What is he?")

Ein Schmetterling ist ein Insekt- Was ist ein Schmetterling? ("A butterfly is an insect - What is

a butterfly?")

You can also use other interrogative pronouns like Wo.

Asking for an adverb

It is possible to ask for the adverb of a predicative, if it is not a nominal phrase (and even for the

adverb of the adverb etc.)

Der Baum ist 3 Meter hoch.- Wie hoch ist der Baum? ("The tree is three metres tall - How tall

is the tree?")

Asking for a possessor

When searching for the possessor of a nominal phrase, you first act as if you would invert the

corresponding statement, placing the noun with the unknown possessor at the beginning. Then give it

the possessive interrogative article (wessen for all cases, genders and numbers). Of course, this

nominal phrase may not have a genitive possessor.

Ich habe das Auto des Chefs gesehen. - Wessen Auto hast du gesehen? ("I saw the boss's car -

Whose car did you see?")

Ich habe sein Auto gesehen - Wessen Auto hast du gesehen? ("I saw his car - Whose car did

you see?")

Ich habe sein Auto gesehen - Wessen hast du gesehen? ("I saw his car - Whose did you see?")

(Wessen is no longer an article, but a pronoun)

Usage is the same for both unknown possessive articles as for unknown genitive possessors.

Asking for an adverb

First the interrogative pronoun (Wie), then the conjugated verb, next the subject, then the rest of the

sentence.

Der Vogel fliegt schnell am Himmel - Wie fliegt der Vogel am Himmel? ("The bird flies quickly

in the sky - How does the bird fly in the sky?")

If the adverb describes another adverb or an adjective:

Der Vogel fliegt ungeheuer schnell - Wie schnell fliegt der Vogel? ("The bird flies amazingly

quickly - How quickly does the bird fly?")

Asking for position or adverbial clause

Developing the question for an adverbial phrase may be slightly more complicated.

Theoretically, like the other specific questions, the unknown position is inverted to the beginning of

the sentence. Whereas the pre- or post- position remains, the nominal part is replaced either by an


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interrogative pronoun or by a nominal phrase having the interrogative article.

Er sah den Vogel auf dem Baum. -Auf welchem Baum sah er den Vogel? ("He saw the bird in

the tree - In which tree did he see the bird?")

Dein Hund wurde in diesem Jahr geboren. ("Your dog was born this year")

-In welchem Jahr wurde dein Hund geboren? ("Which year was your dog born?")

Practically, the person asking the question will know neither the gender of the noun, nor the number

of the noun, nor even the kind of preposition, before he hears the answer. So a short form is used

instead in nearly every case. These short forms are also the only way to ask for an adverbial clause or

for a proposition.

Er sah den Vogel auf dem Baum. - Wo sah er den Vogel? ("He saw the bird in the tree - Where

did he see the bird?")

Dein Hund wurde damals geboren. - Wann wurde dein Hund geboren? ("Your dog was born at

that time - When was your dog born?")

Some interrogative pronouns: Wo, Woher, Wohin, Wann, Wieso, Weshalb, Warum, Weswegen.

Commands

For a command, take the imperative form of the conjugated verb from the infinitive and put it at the

beginning of the sentence followed by the corresponding personal pronoun. There also must be an

exclamation point at the end of the sentence to make it a command. The separable prefix, if there is

one, remains at its old place, separated. In the literary language it is possible to leave the verb at the

second place.

If the verb changes the vowel in the second and third person singular, the vowel is also changed in

the second person singular of the imperative.

The 2nd person plural pronoun is always omitted. In archaic language, or to emphasize who is

ordered for the action, the 2nd person singular pronoun may be left.

Das Tier verfolgen - Verfolge (du) das Tier! ("to trail the animal - Trail the animal!")

Das Tier verfolgen lassen -Lass(e) (du) das Tier verfolgen! ("to have the animal trailed - Have

the animal trailed!")

wegfahren - Fahr(e) (du) weg! ("to drive away - Drive away!")

jemanden mitnehmen -Nimm (du) jemanden mit! ("to give someone a lift - Give someone a

lift!")

Note that an "'e"' may be added on to the end of the command form, but only if the verb does not

have a stem-change. This is a result of the spoken language and has no difference in meaning.

Schreib das Wort auf! means the same as Schreibe das Wort auf! ("Write the word down!")

*Lese das Buch!, though very common in spoken language, is considered incorrect because the stem

changes from les to lies in the command form.Lies das Buch! ("Read the book!") (singular) andLest

das Buch! (plural) are correct.

There are no imperative forms for first person plural and second person formal. The first and third

person plural of the conditional of the present (this is mostly the same form as verb infinitive asidefrom sein 'to be' for which seien is used) is used (but not for tun 'to do' for which tun is used). You


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must put it to beginning of the sentence, separate the separable prefix before that, and place the

personal pronouns wir or Sie directly after it.

wegfahren - Fahren wir weg! (Let's drive away!) - Fahren Sie weg! (You) Drive away!

froh sein - Seien wir froh! (Let's be glad!) - Seien Sie froh! Be glad!

Note that imperatives must have the same word order as yes/no questions.

As a matter of fact, actual commands are often given as simple unconjugated infinitive. This is

inevitable in the military (excepting the formal commands Rhrt euch and Richt't euch), but way not

restricted to it.

In Linie antreten! (Line up! to soldiers) but also

Warm anziehen und den Schlssel nicht vergessen! (Put some warm clothes on and do not

forget your key; a mother to her child)

Hey, nicht faulenzen, arbeiten! (Hey yo, do not laze around, get some work done!, normal

imperative would be very odd)

The military command "Stillgestanden", Freeze!, oddly even takes the perfect participle for an

imperative.

Subordinate clauses

A subordinate clause (Nebensatz) is always incorporated in a main sentence (or another subordinate

clause). Any part of the main clause can be replaced by it, but some conjugated verb must remain.

However, subclauses are generally moved to the end of the sentence if it can be done without

inconvenience, and if they do not take the first place because of importance. As for its word order, it

differs in two things only from a main clause:

1. In general, it begins with a special word, a 'subordinating conjunction' or a relative pronoun,

setting it into relation with the encompassing sentence.

2. The verb is, without separation, sent to the place where the first part of a separable verb would be

in a main clause, i. e. at the end of the sentence.

Ich nehme das frhere Flugzeug, damit ich heute noch ankomme. = "I'll take the earlier plane

so that I arrive even today."

Question words (in the following example, 'wohin') have the same effect as subordinating

conjunctions within a sentence.

Wohin ist er gelaufen?Niemand wusste, wohin er gelaufen ist. ("Where did he run (to)? No one

knew where he ran (to)." -- Note that, unlike in English, a subordinate or dependent clause is always

separated from the independent clause (Hauptsatz) by a comma.)

Oddities:

1. Final clauses can be replaced by an "um-zu"-infinitive, if the subject is identical; in practice, um

behaves as conjunction, and the infinitive, with azu, as conjugated verb, and the subject falls away.

Wir haben genug Geld, um diese CD zu kaufen. = Wir haben genug Geld, damit wir


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diese CD kaufen. "We have enough money to/that we buy this CD."

2. In conditional phrases, the conjunction wenn may be left out in the main clause and the verb put

into its place. In this case, so replaces dann in the subordinate clause.

Hast du gengend Geld, so no "dann" in this case kannst du diese CD kaufen. = Wenn du

gengend Geld hast, dann kannst du diese CD kaufen. "If you have enough money, then

you can buy this CD."

3. Indirect speech may behave as subclause in relation to the main clause, but the conjunction (which

would be "dass") may be left out and then its word-order is as in main clauses.

Er sagte, er sei mit der Arbeit fertig. =Er sagte, dass er mit der Arbeit fertig sei. = "He

said (that) he had finished his work."

4.Denn, by custom translated into English asfor, is in practice just an equivalent to weil "because",

but it requires a main-clause word-order and may even take a semicolon instead of a comma.

Er kommt nicht zur Arbeit, denn er ist krank. (He doesn't come to work, for he's ill.) =

Er kommt nicht zur Arbeit, weil er krank ist. = "He doesn't come to work because he's

ill."

To confuse things, in some dialects weil has the role which denn has in Standard German. However this doesn't mean they

generally neglect the subclause word order, since other conjunctions meaning the same, i. e. da "as" or even a "deswegen

weil" (literally: because of that because) take ordinary subclauses even there.

Subordinate sentence structure

Just as in English, a subordinate clause may be used at the beginning or end of a completeexpression, so long as it is paired with at least one independent clause. For instance, just as one could

say either:

I will go with you, if I can. orIf I can, I will go with you.

so you can also say in German:

Ich komme mit, wenn ich kann. or Wenn ich kann, komme ich mit.

Note, however, that in German when the independent clause comes after a subordinate clause the

conjugated verb comes before the subject. This arises from the basic rule that always places theconjugated verb in a sentence in the second position, even if that puts it ahead of the sentence's

subject.

Clauses with dass

Subordinate clauses beginning with dass [thus, so, that] enable the speaker to use statements like

nominal phrases or pronouns. These sentences are singular, neuter and either nominative or

accusative. However, the verb must go at the end of the sentence.Ich denke, dass er ein Vater ist.

Dass Spinnen keine Insekten sind, ist allgemein bekannt. ("It's well-known that spiders are notinsects.")


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Ich wei, dass Spinnen keine Insekten sind. -Ich wei das. ("I know that spiders are not insects

- I know that.")

Indirect questions with ob

Whereas the word dass indicates that the statement is a fact, ob starts an indirect yes/no question.

Ich wei nicht, ob ich fliegen soll. ("I don't know whether I should fly.")

Specific indirect question

Relative clauses

The outer nominal phrase the relative clause relates to can be any nominal phrase in any case. The

clause begins with a form of the relative pronoun derived from and largely identical to the definite

pronoun (der/die/das), or the interrogative pronoun (welchem/welcher/welches), the remaining words

are put after it. Using the interrogative pronoun without good cause is considered typical for legalese

language.

Der Mann, der/welcher seiner Frau den Hund schenkt(nominative subject)("The man who

gives his wife the dog")

Der Hund, den/welchen der Mann seiner Frau schenkt(accusative object) ("The dog which

the man gives his wife")

Die Frau, der/welcher der Mann den Hund schenkt(dative object) ("The woman to whom the

man gives the dog")

Der Mann, der/welcher ich bin (predicative noun) ("The man I am")

The outer nominal phrase can also be the possessor of a noun inside. You use the genitive case of arelative pronoun matching the outer nominal phrase in gender and number.

Der Mann, dessen Auto auf der Strae parkt("The man whose car is parked on the street")

Die Person, deren Auto ich kaufe ("The person whose car I am buying")

Das Auto, dessen Fahrer ich helfe ("The car whose driver I am helping")

Die Kinder, deren Lehrer ich kenne ("The children whose teacher I know")

Prepositions/Postpositions are attached to these phrases in the relative clause if necessary.

Das Haus, in dem ich lebe ("The house I live in")

Die Person, derentwegen ich hier bin ("The person I am here because of")Das Haus, durch dessen Tr ich gegangen bin ("The house whose door I came in by")

If the relative pronoun is identical to the definite article several identical forms may follow each

other.

Der, der der Frau, der ich schon Honig gegeben hatte, Honig gab, muss mehr Honig kaufen

("The man who gave honey to the woman I had already given honey to, has to buy more

honey")

Such constructions are generally avoided by using forms of welch- as relative pronouns.

Der, welcher der Frau, welcher ...


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or rather

Derjenige, welcher der Frau, der ich ...

Otherwise, welcher is rarely used (never in the genitive), and without a difference in meaning. If the

relative pronoun refers to a thing as yet unknown or a whole sentence and not a part of it, was is used

instead, always equivalent here to an English "which".

Der Chef stellte einen Arbeiter ein, was diesen sehr gefreut hat. - "The manager hired a

worker, which the latter was very happy about."

From sentences such as this

In dem Geschft, wo ( or in dem) man auch Brot kaufen kann, kaufe ich Bier. - "In this shop

where you also can buy bread I am buying beer."

one may understand why colloquial usage extends this to other quasi-locational prepositional

expressions

Die Zeit, wo (= in der) wir Rom besucht haben, war sehr schn. - "The time lit. where we

visited Rome was really fine." Regular "in der", literally "in which", would translate to a "when" in English.

and then, in Northern German slang, to all relative clauses:

Der Mann, wo bei Siemens arbeitet, hat an der Technischen Universitt studiert. "The man

where works at Siemens's has graduated from the Technical University."

Southern Germans never use this form, but they have constructed a double form "der wo, die wo, das

wo" which is almost necessary in their dialect."Wo" may here be replaced by "was", which for undiscoverable

reasons seems to occur mostly in the feminine genus.

Adverbial clauses

An adverbial clause begins with a conjunction, defining its relation to the verb or nominal phrase

described.

Als ich auf dem Meer segelte ("When/As I was sailing on the sea")

Some examples of conjunctions: als, whrend, nachdem, weil?

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