German sentence structure: Difference between revisions

Structure of sentences in the German language

German sentence structure is the structure to which the German language adheres. The basic sentence in German follows subject–verb–object word order (SVO).^[1] Additionally, German, like all living Germanic standard languages except English,^{[note 1]} uses V2 word order (verb second), though generally in independent clauses.^{[note 2]} In normal dependent clauses, the finite verb is placed last, followed by the infinite verb if existing, whereas main clauses including an auxiliary verb reserve the default final position for the infinite verb, keeping the finite verb second. Hence, both of these sentence types apply the subject–object–verb word order (SOV), the first one quite purely, the latter in a mix.

Declarative sentences use V2 (verb in the second position) word order: the finite verb is preceded by one and only one constituent (unlike in English, this does not need to be the subject); in Germanic tradition, the position occupied by this constituent is referred to as the prefield (Vorfeld). Coordinating conjunctions like und (‘and’) or aber (‘but’) precede both the prefield and the finite verb, and so do topicalised elements (similarly to “that” in English phrases such as “that I don’t know”). The prefield is often used to convey emphasis.

Non-finite verbs as well as separable particles are placed at the end of the sentence:

In the midfield (the part of the clause between the position of the finite verb and that of the clause-final verb cluster), German word order is highly variable.

Conventional German syntax presents information within a declarative sentence in the following order:^{[citation needed]}

• Wichtigstes (what is the most important thing within all the elements following the finite verb?)
  • The word da when taking the meaning of “then suddenly” must take the first place. Dann (‘then’) does so often, but not necessarily; otherwise, the subject of the sentence may take first place.
  • If the verb is the most important, the unconjugated (normally second) part of the separable verb is placed here, but still separated from the conjugated (normally first) part. If the verb is not separable or periphrastical, the infinitive is used.
• Was (‘what?’ – the conjugated verb)
  • In this case, a form of tun is inserted for the conjugated verb, as in “Arbeiten tun wir” (“Working, that’s what we do”).
• 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)

Wir gehen am Freitag miteinander ins Kino. Literally, ‘We go on Friday together to the movies.’

Wegen ihres Jahrestages bereiten wir unseren Eltern einen Ausflug nach München vor. Literally, ‘Because of their anniversary plan we our parents a trip to Munich.’

In conversational past tense, comparisons can be put after both parts of the verb. So:

Er ist größer gewesen als ich. / Er war größer als ich.

OR

Er ist größer als ich gewesen

‘He was greater than I.’

German often structures a sentence according to increasing importance of the phrase towards the conversation. 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?’

Am Donnerstag gehen wir ins Kino. ‘On Thursday we’re going to the movies.’

OR

Wir gehen am Donnerstag ins Kino. ‘We’re going on Thursday to the movies.’

In ditransitive sentences, pronouns usually go between the verb and all other elements of the sentence:

Maria gibt mir morgen das Hemd. ‘Maria is giving me tomorrow the shirt.’

BUT

Maria gibt es mir morgen. ‘Maria is giving it to me tomorrow.’

An inversion is used to emphasize an adverbial phrase, a predicative, an object, or an inner verbal phrase in a sentence. 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.

Example 1:

“Ich fliege schnell.” ‘I fly fast.’ – unstressed

“Schnell fliege ich.” ‘I fly fast.’ – stressed “schnell“/’fast’ (i.e., “Fast is how I fly.”)

Example 2:

“Du bist wunderschön.” ‘You are lovely.” – unstressed

“Wunderschön bist du.” ‘You are lovely.’ – stressed “wunderschön“/’beautiful’ (i.e., “Lovely is what you are.”)

Example 3:

“Ich bin gelaufen.” ‘I ran.’ – unstressed

“Gelaufen bin ich!” ‘I ran!’ – stressed “gelaufen“/’ran’ (i.e., “Run is what I did!”)

Questions are generally divided into yes–no questions and wh-questions.

Specific questions are similar to inverted statements. They begin with a question word, which is followed by the conjugated verb, followed by the subject (if there is one), and then the rest of the sentence.^{[citation needed]}

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)

In yes–no questions, the verb-initial word order (V1) is used: the finite verb occupies the first position in the sentence; here, there is no prefield.

However, conjunctions and topicalised elements still precede the finite verb:

Wh questions work in much the same way as they do in English. Like English, German also has Wh-movement:

For commands, the imperative mood is used. Like questions, commands use V1 word order:

In contemporary German, the imperative singular ending -e is usually omitted. The second-person-singular pronouns du ‘you (sg)’ and ihr ‘you (pl)’ are always omitted, except in highly formal or literary language:

Like in English, nouns or non-finite verb forms can sometimes be used to give commands:

Verb-second is retained in many dependent clauses of high importance which are recognizable by their conjunctions, especially: und (‘and’), oder (‘or’), aber (‘but’), sondern (‘but rather’), doch (‘though’), jedoch (‘however’), denn (‘because’, not to be confused with synonymous ‘weil/da’).

This V2 construction cannot introduce the entire sentence. More typically, dependent clauses follow the Vfinal scheme (if applicable, subject-object-verb word order):

Using dass ‘that’:

There are two varieties of relative clauses. The more common one is based on the definite article der, die, das, but with distinctive forms in the genitive (dessen, deren) and in the dative plural (denen). Historically, this is related to the English that. The second, which is typically used in more literary contexts and used for emphasis, is the relative use of welcher, welche, welches, comparable with English which. As in most Germanic languages, including Old English, both of these varieties inflect according to gender, case and number. They take their gender and number from the noun which they modify, but the case from their function in their own clause.

The relative pronoun dem is neuter (otherwise masculine) singular to agree with Landhaus, but dative because it follows a preposition in its own clause. On the same basis, it would be possible to substitute the given neuter noun with the pronoun welchem (‘which’; dative, also masculine).

However, German uses the uninflecting was (‘what’) as a relative pronoun when the antecedent is alles, etwas or nichts (‘everything’, ‘something’, ‘nothing’).

In German, all relative clauses are marked with commas, so they follow the standard for dependent clauses.

Alternatively, particularly in formal registers, participles (both active and passive) can be used to embed relative clauses in adjectival phrases:

Die von ihr in jenem Stil gemalten Bilder sind sehr begehrt.

‘The pictures she painted in that style are highly sought after.’

Die Regierung möchte diese im letzten Jahr eher langsam wachsende Industrie weiter fördern.

‘The government would like to further promote this industry, which has grown rather slowly over the last year.’

Unlike English, which only permits relatively small participle phrases in adjectival positions (typically just the participle and adverbs), and disallows the use of direct objects for active participles, German sentences of this sort can embed clauses of arbitrary complexity.

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

Als ich zum Spaß auf dem Meer gesegelt bin, setzte der Regen wieder ein. (“When/As I was sailing on the sea for fun, the rain set in again.”)

Some other examples of such conjunctions: während (‘while’), bevor (‘before’), nachdem (‘after’), obwohl (‘although’), wenn/falls (‘if’). Dropping the latter, conditional conjunction makes the clause appear like a yes–no question:

Ist alles klar, [dann] kannst du froh sein. = Wenn/Falls alles klar ist, [dann] kannst du froh sein. (“If everything is clear, [then] you can be happy.”)