Misplaced Pages

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "German sentence structure" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

German sentence structure is the structure to which the German language adheres. German is an OV (Object-Verb) language. Additionally, German, like all west Germanic languages except English, uses V2 word order, though only in independent clauses. In dependent clauses, the finite verb is placed last.

Independent clauses

Declarative sentences

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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 need not 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.

ich

I.NOM

seh-e

see.PRS-1SG

den

the.ACC.SG.M

Baum

tree.ACC.SG

ich seh-e den Baum

I.NOM see.PRS-1SG the.ACC.SG.M tree.ACC.SG

'I see the tree.'

den

the.ACC.SG.M

Baum

tree.ACC.SG

seh-e

see.PRS-1SG

ich

I.NOM

den Baum seh-e ich

the.ACC.SG.M tree.ACC.SG see.PRS-1SG I.NOM

'I see the tree.'

du

you.SG

siehst

see.PRS.2SG

den

the.ACC.SG.M

Fluss

river.ACC.SG

und

and

ich

I.NOM

seh-e

see.PRS.1SG

den

the.ACC.SG.M

Baum

tree.ACC.SG

du siehst den Fluss und ich seh-e den Baum

you.SG see.PRS.2SG the.ACC.SG.M river.ACC.SG and I.NOM see.PRS.1SG the.ACC.SG.M tree.ACC.SG

'You see the river, and I see the tree.'

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

der

the.NOM.SG.M

König

king.NOM.SG

ist

be.PRS.3SG

an

at

der

the.DAT.SG.F

Burg

castle.DAT.SG

an=ge-komm-en

on=PST.PTCP_1‍-come-PST.PTCP_1‍

der König ist an der Burg an=ge-komm-en

the.NOM.SG.M king.NOM.SG be.PRS.3SG at the.DAT.SG.F castle.DAT.SG on=PST.PTCP_1‍-come-PST.PTCP_1‍

'The King has arrived (lit. "is on-come") at the castle.'

der

the.NOM.SG.M

König

king.NOM.SG

kam

come.PST.3SG

an

at

der

the.DAT.SG.F

Burg

castle.DAT.SG

an

on

der König kam an der Burg an

the.NOM.SG.M king.NOM.SG come.PST.3SG at the.DAT.SG.F castle.DAT.SG on

'The King arrived (lit. "on-came") at the castle.'

der

the.NOM.SG.M

König

king.NOM.SG

wird

will.PRS.3SG

an

at

der

the.DAT.SG.F

Burg

castle.DAT.SG

an=komm-en

on=come-INF

der König wird an der Burg an=komm-en

the.NOM.SG.M king.NOM.SG will.PRS.3SG at the.DAT.SG.F castle.DAT.SG on=come-INF

'The King will arrive (lit. "will on-come") at the castle.'

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 sentence in the following order:

• Wichtigstes (what is the most important thing within the 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 me.'

German often structure 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:

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

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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"/'lovely' (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!")

Interrogative sentences

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.

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

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

siehst

see.PRS.2SG

du

you.SG

den

the.ACC.SG.M

Baum

tree.ACC.SG

siehst du den Baum

see.PRS.2SG you.SG the.ACC.SG.M tree.ACC.SG

'Do you see the tree?'

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

aber

but

hast

have.PRS.2SG

du

you.SG

den

the.ACC.SG.M

Baum

tree.ACC.SG

ge-seh-en

PST.PTCP_1‍-see-PST.PTCP_1‍

aber hast du den Baum ge-seh-en

but have.PRS.2SG you.SG the.ACC.SG.M tree.ACC.SG PST.PTCP_1‍-see-PST.PTCP_1‍

'But have you seen the tree?'

den

the.ACC.SG.M

Baum

tree.ACC.SG

hast

have.PRS.2SG

du

you.SG

den

DEM.ACC.SG.M

ge-seh-en

PST.PTCP_1‍-see-PST.PTCP_1‍

den Baum hast du den ge-seh-en

the.ACC.SG.M tree.ACC.SG have.PRS.2SG you.SG DEM.ACC.SG.M PST.PTCP_1‍-see-PST.PTCP_1‍

'The tree, have you seen it?'

Wh questions

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

welchen

INTERR.DET.ACC.SG.M

Baum

tree.ACC.SG

hast

have.PRS.2SG

du

you.SG

ge-seh-en

PST.PTCP_1‍-see-PST.PTCP_1‍

welchen Baum hast du ge-seh-en

INTERR.DET.ACC.SG.M tree.ACC.SG have.PRS.2SG you.SG PST.PTCP_1‍-see-PST.PTCP_1‍

'What tree have you seen?'

wohin

whither

geh-en

go.PRS-1PL

wir

we.NOM

wohin geh-en wir

whither go.PRS-1PL we.NOM

'Where are we going?'

Commands

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

reich-(e)

pass-IMP.SG

mir

I.DAT

das

the.ACC.SG.N

Salz

salt.ACC.SG

reich-(e) mir das Salz

pass-IMP.SG I.DAT the.ACC.SG.N salt.ACC.SG

'Pass me the salt!'

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:

bring-e

fetch-IMP.SG

du

you.SG

mir

I.DAT

das

the.ACC.SG.N

Buch

book.ACC.SG

bring-e du mir das Buch

fetch-IMP.SG you.SG I.DAT the.ACC.SG.N book.ACC.SG

'Fetch me the book!'

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

Achtung

attention.NOM.SG

Stufe

step.NOM.SG

Achtung Stufe

attention.NOM.SG step.NOM.SG

'Mind the step!'

warm

warm.ADJ

an=zieh-en

on=pull-INF

nicht

not

vergess-en

forget-INF

warm an=zieh-en nicht vergess-en

warm.ADJ on=pull-INF not forget-INF

'Don't forget to dress warmly!'

Dependent clauses

Subordinate clauses use Vfinal word order.

'That' clauses

Using dass 'that':

Ich

I.NOM

weiß

know.PRS.1SG

dass

that

er

he.NOM

hier

here

ist

be.PRS.3SG

Ich weiß dass er hier ist

I.NOM know.PRS.1SG that he.NOM here be.PRS.3SG

'I know that he's here.'

wer

who.NOM

hat

have.PRS.3SG

dir

you.DAT.SG

erzähl-t

tell.PST.PTCP

dass

that

ich

I.NOM

nach

to

England

England.NOM

zieh-en

move.INF

werd-e

will.PRS.1SG

wer hat dir erzähl-t dass ich nach England zieh-en werd-e

who.NOM have.PRS.3SG you.DAT.SG tell.PST.PTCP that I.NOM to England.NOM move.INF will.PRS.1SG

'Who told you that I'm moving to England?'

dass

that

zwei

two

größer

greater

als

than

eins

one

ist,

be.PRS.3SG

ist

be.PRS.3SG

selbstverständlich

obvious

dass zwei größer als eins ist, ist selbstverständlich

that two greater than one be.PRS.3SG be.PRS.3SG obvious

'That two is greater than one is obvious.'

Clauses headed by a subordinator

sie

she.NOM

schrieb

write.PRET.3SG

es

it.ACC

nieder

down

sodass

so.that

sie

she.NOM

es

it.ACC

nicht

not

vergess-en

forget.INF

würd-e

will.SUBJII-3SG

sie schrieb es nieder sodass sie es nicht vergess-en würd-e

she.NOM write.PRET.3SG it.ACC down so.that she.NOM it.ACC not forget.INF will.SUBJII-3SG

'She wrote it down so that she would not forget it.'

wir

we.NOM

soll-t-en

shall-PRET-1PL

uns

we.REFL

beeil-en

hurry-INF

damit

in.order.that

wir

we.NOM

rechtzeitig

in.time

an=komm-en

on=.come-INF

wir soll-t-en uns beeil-en damit wir rechtzeitig an=komm-en

we.NOM shall-PRET-1PL we.REFL hurry-INF in.order.that we.NOM in.time on=.come-INF

'We should hurry so that we arrive in time.'

ich

I.NOM

helf-e

help.PRS-1SG

dir

you.SG.DAT

weil

because

ich

I.NOM

dich

you.ACC

mag

like.PRS.1SG

ich helf-e dir weil ich dich mag

I.NOM help.PRS-1SG you.SG.DAT because I.NOM you.ACC like.PRS.1SG

'I help you because I like you.'

Relative clauses

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.

der

the.NOM.SG.M

König

king.NOM.SG

der

REL.NOM.SG.M

sah

see.PST.3SG

den

the.ACC.SG.M

Fluss

river.ACC.SG

der König der sah den Fluss

the.NOM.SG.M king.NOM.SG REL.NOM.SG.M see.PST.3SG the.ACC.SG.M river.ACC.SG

'The king, who saw the river.'

das

the.NOM.SG.N

Haus

house.NOM.SG

in

in

dem

REL.DAT.SG.N

ich

I.NOM

wohne

live.PRS.1SG

ist

be.PRS.3SG

sehr

very

alt

old

das Haus in dem ich wohne ist sehr alt

the.NOM.SG.N house.NOM.SG in REL.DAT.SG.N I.NOM live.PRS.1SG be.PRS.3SG very old

'The house in which I live is very old.'

The relative pronoun dem is neuter singular to agree with Haus, but dative because it follows a preposition in its own clause. On the same basis, it would be possible to substitute the pronoun welchem.

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

alles

everything.NOM.SG.N

was

what.ACC.SG

Jack

Jack.NOM

macht

do.PRS.3SG

gelingt

turn out well.PRS.3SG

ihm

3SG.DAT

alles was Jack macht gelingt ihm

everything.NOM.SG.N what.ACC.SG Jack.NOM do.PRS.3SG {turn out well.PRS.3SG} 3SG.DAT

'Everything that Jack does is a success.'

In German, all relative clauses are marked with commas.

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

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

'The pictures he 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.

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, während, nachdem, weil.

Notes

1.  Although English uses V2 word order in certain circumstances, such as questions.

References

1. Haider, Hubert (2010). The Syntax of German. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Word order
• German grammar