German Sentence Structure

Sentence structure in German is pretty flexible because of the German case system.

Let’s look at these three sentences:

All three sentences make sense and mean the same thing: The man gives the dog the bone.

This is because each noun in the sentence has a specific role, indicated by its article.

These roles are key for this lesson.

Even though the word order changes, the roles stay the same, so the meaning stays the same. The difference is which noun is emphasized by being at the start of the sentence.

However, the following sentence doesn’t make sense, even with the same nouns and roles:

But why?

While German sentence structure is flexible, there are still rules to follow. For example, the verb needs to be in position 2, directly after the first noun, as in the first three example sentences.

So, how can we confidently build sentences that make sense?

Let's continue, to find out.

There are five word positions we should know: 0, 1, 2, 3 and END

Let’s look at these sentences that use all of them:

For now, let’s focus on positions 1 and 2, which make up the starting point of a sentence.

Here are four common sentence structures you’ll use often. The first is the simplest:

Sentence Structure Number One: Default

This is the go-to sentence structure in German.

The subject must stay next to the verb, and the verb always takes position 2.

Try building a sentence using this basic structure.

Sentence Structure Number Two: Reorder for Emphasis

The second structure is used when we want to emphasize a noun other than the subject. This noun is placed in position 1, and the subject follows after the verb.

So, for example:

Reorder these sentences using the Reorder for Emphasis structure.

Sentence Structure Number Three: The yes-no question

For yes-no questions, you swap the subject and verb so that the verb comes first. This structure is straightforward:

Let's have a look at two examples:

Reorder these sentences to form yes-no questions.

Sentence Structure Number Four: Using modal verbs

In German, modal verbs (like möchten,müssen, können) send the second verb to the end of the sentence:

Here's an example sentence, using this word order:

Well done! 🎉

We’ve covered the four basic sentence structures. Now, let’s learn how to build longer, more complex sentences.

Simple sentences, like the ones above, form main clauses (aka independent clauses).

To level up, we can combine two main clauses with coordinating conjunctions (like aber, und, oder).

Coordinating Conjunctions

Here is an example of independent clauses combined together, with the use of coordinating conjunctions:

Example one:

In this sentence, the coordinating conjunction is placed just before the second independent clause, at position 0.

This sentence structure should be fairly straight forward.

Now, let’s look at something more complex: subordinate clauses.

A subordinate clause doesn’t make sense on its own. It needs an independent clause and is introduced by a subordinating conjunction (like weil or dass).

Subordinating Conjunctions

When using subordinating clauses, the subordinating conjunction is placed in position 1, the subject moves to position 2, and the verb moves to the end position.

Here, the independent clause is combined with the subordinating conjunction: weil, which takes position 1. The subject sie takes position 2, and the conjugated verb hat is placed at the end position of the clause.

Well done! 🎉

You’ve covered some important German sentence structures. Continue to the next lesson, where we’ll learn how to Compare Things in German.