Generally, the main part of the conjugated verb will still go right after the subject, and the separable prefix will get tacked on to the end of the sentence: Subject This is true of verbs that start with prefixes like ab-, vor-, zu-, auf-, ein-, and zurück, among several other separable prefixes. Some German verbs are “separable” - that is, when they’re used, they have prefixes that get removed and placed elsewhere in the sentence. If you’re qualifying the verb further with an adverb, or using an adjective to describe a noun, it would go after the negation: SubjectĬomplex verbs in German sentence structureīesides negation, there are a few things that can happen with German verbs to change the word order in the sentence. In the simplest example, a declarative sentence in the negative, you would have Subject – Verb – Negation, perhaps followed by an Object : Subject Both nicht and kein will have the same position in a sentence, which will vary depending on other words used in the sentence. There are two basic ways to make a sentence negative in German: One is with nicht (not), and the other is with kein (not any). In both cases, this is fairly simple, because English has the same structure. This is true whether we refer to the indirect object as Ulrich or ihm (him). Here, because we’re using a pronoun in place of der Kaffee, the direct object (which is now represented by ihn) goes before the indirect object. The indirect object, ihm (him), goes before the direct object, and right after the verb.Įven if we substituted the indirect object’s proper name, Ulrich, for ihm (him), the word order would stay the same: Subjectīut let’s say we want to replace der Kaffee with ihn (it ). In this case, the direct object, der Kaffee (the coffee) - a common noun in the accusative case - goes at the end of the sentence. What happens if we specify who or what is receiving the direct object? That’s where the indirect object comes in. German sentence order with indirect objects Their word order is very much like what we’d use in English: Subject – Verb – Object. These are the most basic types of sentences. We’ll keep it simple, mostly using beginner-level words and phrases. Let’s look at a few common types of sentences and the word order you’d use for each. German word order largely depends on the type of sentence you’re building. The indirect object is who- or whatever is the recipient of the direct object.The direct object is the person, animal, or thing that’s getting acted upon - whatever gets heard, liked, written, eaten, etc.The verb, of course, is the “action word” - even if it’s something more passive, like sein (to be) or mögen (to like).In German, the subject is always in the Nominative case. It’s often a personal pronoun, like ich (I), du (you ), er (he), or wir (we). The subject is the word that’s doing the action in the sentence.In the worst-case scenario, unusual word order could cause some misunderstandings.īefore we look at specific kinds of German sentences, here’s a quick grammar refresher - just in case you weren’t forced to diagram sentences in school: However, if your goal is to start sounding natural, then having your words in the wrong order won’t help you to sound like a native speaker. Sure, German conversation partners will appreciate the effort you’re making to learn their language.
So, you can sometimes move words around for emphasis.
Among other information, these cases tell you who (or what) is affected - directly or indirectly - by the action in the sentence.Īs a result, German has a modest amount of flexibility about word order. German has well-recognized grammatical cases: The nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. We’ll also break down a couple of real-life examples to help you see how German sentence structure works.įinally, we’ll talk about a few ways you can practice with German sentence structure, so that it becomes second nature to you - instead of sounding like something from another planet. In this article we’ll look at some of the rules that govern the most common German sentence structures. There’s definitely a rhyme and reason to German syntax, and we’re here to explain it. The word order in German sentences may not seem logical, at first. Many people even compare it to the way Yoda speaks! Sometimes, it’s just like English at other times, German sentence structure almost seems alien. Die Deutsche Wortstellung (the German word order) can bewilder German learners.