Word Order - A Simple Sentence in Detail
The word order (Wortstellung) is the order that the elements of a sentence are placed in, and are used to derive meaning from the sentence. Word order plays a very important role in correctly discerning the meaning of an English sentence. In German, however, it is more flexible, as this lesson will demonstrate.
Starting Off
Here is a simple sentence:
Der Mann gibt der Frau das Buch.
The man gives the woman the book.
In this example, the word order of
the German and English sentences are identical. In English, the word
order is used to identify the subject and the objects of a verb. If
we were to alter the order of the English sentence to:
The woman gives the man the book.
Then the sentence takes on a
different meaning. Previously, the “who” of the sentence was “the
man” but now it is “the woman”. Similarly, the “whom” of
the previous sentence was “the woman” but now it has become “the
man”. You
cannot change the order of the subjects and objects while still
retaining the original meaning.
Not
so in the German language. In German, it is the case
endings,
not the word order, which definitively tells us who
is doing what to whom.
So the following sentences can all mean the same thing:
Der Mann
gibt der Frau
das
Buch.
Der Mann gibt das Buch der Frau.
Der Mann gibt das Buch der Frau.
Der Frau
gibt der
Mann
das
Buch.
Der Frau gibt das Buch der Mann.
Das Buch gibt der Mann der Frau.
Der Frau gibt das Buch der Mann.
Das Buch
gibt der
Frau der Mann.
If we extract the subject and the
objects from the German sentence, we get:
Subject = Der
Mann
Direct Object = Das
Buch
Indirect Object = Der
Frau
How is this determined? In German,
there are four cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive.
The first three match the subject, the direct object, and the
indirect object. So:
Subject = Nominative
Direct Object = Accusative
Indirect Object = Dative
How did we then determine that? By
context, and by looking at the case
endings
of the definite and indefinite articles in the sentence. Each case
has its own articles for each gender and number (e.g. singular or
plural). For example, for Dative we have the following definite
articles:
Masculine:
Dem
Feminine:
Der
Neuter:
Dem
Plural:
Den
By
knowing how cases inflect articles, we can determine that:
“Mann”
is the subject because it has the Nominative article of Der for
masculine singular nouns. If it were the direct object, its article
would be the Accusative Den, while if it were the indirect
object, its article would be the Dative Dem.
“Frau”
is the indirect object because it has Dative article of Der for
feminine singular nouns. If it were the subject, its article would be
the Nominative Die, while if it were the direct object, its
article would be the Accusative Die.
“Buch” is the direct object because it has the Accusative article
of Das. This is clear for two grammatical reasons and one
contextual reason.
Firstly, if it were the subject its article would be the
identical-looking Nominative article of Das. However, we know
it is not the subject because “Mann” has its Nominative article of Der, which is unique to its case. Its Accusative article is Den and its Dative article is Dem, which are spelt
differently.
Secondly, if it were the direct object its article would be the
Dative article of Dem. However, that is not its article and we
already previously determined that “Frau” is the indirect object.
Lastly, contexually, it must be the direct object. A book normally
cannot give a woman to a man, nor can a man give a woman to a book.
Through these types of deductions, we can determine the essential
meaning of any simple sentence, regardless of the order of the
subject, direct object, and indirect object respectively.
As you can see, word order is more flexible in German than in
English. However, there is one element of the sentence above that we
have not touched upon, whose placement in a sentence is virtually
non-negotiable: the finite verb.
The Golden Rule
The essential feature of any German sentence is the position of the
finite verb in a clause. The finite verb is the form of the verb that
has a subject; the conjugated verb.
There are three basic types of clauses: main clause statements;
questions and commands; and subordinate clauses.
The sentence from before is a main clause. Here it is again:
Der Mann gibt
der Frau das Buch.
The man gives the woman the book.
As we have learned, the subjects and
objects of a sentence can be moved around. What cannot be moved is
the finite verb. If you take only one thing from this lesson, it
should be the following:
GOLDEN RULE:
In a main clause, the finite verb is the second
element of the clause.
Questions & Statements
If we alter the sentence into a question and a command, we get a
different structure:
Gibt
der Mann der Frau das Buch?
Is the man giving the woman the
book?
Geben
Sie der Frau das Buch!
Give
the woman the book!
This time the finite verb is the
first element of the
clause.
Thus, in a question
or command clause, the finite verb is the first
element of the clause.
Auxiliary Verbs
The
sentence we have been working with contains only one verb. What do
you do when you want an auxiliary
verb to indicate the modality? In other words, when you want
to add one of the following verbs.
dürfen to
be permitted to, “may”
können to
be able to, “can”
mögen to
like
müssen to
have to, “must”
sollen to
be supposed to, “should”
wollen to
want, “will”
When
the modality of a verb is indicated, the modal verb becomes the
finite verb. However, there can only be one finite verb per basic
clause, so the original verb must change its form. It becomes its
infinitive form and is placed in the last
position of the main or question
clause. For example:
Der
Mann muss
der Frau das Buch geben.
The
man must give the woman the book.
Kann
der Mann der Frau das Buch geben?
Can
the man give the woman the book?
The
same word order applies for the other auxiliaries which are used to
indicate tense and voice. Namely:
sein to
be
haben to
have
werden to
become
What
differs instead is whether you are talking in the Present Prefect
Tense, where you require the past participle of the main verb, or the
in the Future tense, where you require the infinitive of the original
verb. Thus:
Der
Mann hat
der Frau das Buch gegeben.
The
man has given the woman the book.
Hat
der Mann der Frau das Buch gegeben?
Has
the man given the woman the book?
Der
Mann wird
der Frau das Buch geben.
The man will
give the woman the book.
Wird der Mann der Frau das
Buch geben?
Will the man give the woman the
book?
Subordinate Clause
A subordinate clause differs from a
main clause in that it cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. It
requires additional information to complete the sentence. For
example:
Because she wants it.
This
is incomplete: it gives the reason for something, of which we do not
know. To complete it, we must add the main clause.
The man gives the woman the book
because she wants it.
If we now add a subordinate clause
to the original sentence:
Der Mann gibt der Frau das Buch,
weil
sie es will.
The man gives the woman the book
because she wants it.
Then
we see that the finite verb is the last
element of the subordinate clause. Furthermore, the subordinating
conjunction, indicated by weil,
is virtually always the first
element of the subordinate clause.
These
rules hold when we add an auxiliary verb.
Der
Mann gibt der Frau das Buch, weil
sie es haben
muss.
The man gives the woman the book
because she must have it.
The auxiliary verb has become the
finite verb and so is the last element.
The original verb, which has been modified into its infinitive form,
has become the second last position
of the clause.
Like in English, the subordinate
clause can be placed at the beginning of the sentence.
Weil
die Frau das Buch haben
muss,
gibt der Mann es ihr.
Because the woman must have the
book, the man gives it to her.
Does
this not break the Golden Rule? No, because the first position of the
main clause is occupied by the subordinate clause and the second
position is still that of the finite verb. If we deconstruct the main
clause we get:
[subordinate
clause], [finite verb] [subject] [accusative pronoun] [dative
pronoun].
As
you can see, the finite verb remains as the second element of the
main clause and so the sentence continues to follow the Golden Rule.
“Word
Order” is a bit of a misnomer: an element of a sentence is rarely a
single word but often a phrase
of some kind.
Finally,
how do we determine whether a clause is subordinating? If the clause
begins with:
1)
One of several subordinating conjunctions, common examples of which
are:
bevor
(before) dass
(that) ob
(whether) wenn
(if, when)
2)
A relative pronoun, including the interrogative pronouns.
Conclusion
This
lesson covered only a simple sentence and mainly only used noun
objects, i.e. no pronouns, and it should give you the foundation to
form grammatically valid German sentences. To summarise the main
points:
For
Subjects and Objects:
- Use the case endings, not the word order, to determine who is doing what to whom.
- GOLDEN RULE: In a main clause, the finite verb is the second element of the clause.
- In a question or command clause, the finite verb is the first element of the clause.
- In a subordinate clause, the finite verb is (usually) the last element of the clause.
- There can only be one finite verb in each of these clauses.
- In a main or question/command clause, if the finite verb is an auxiliary verb, the modified original verb is last element of the clause. In a subordinate clause, it is the second last element of the clause.
Further Content about Word Order
Word Order - A Simple Sentence in Detail (current article)
Last Updated: 31 March 2018
Word Order - A Simple Sentence in Detail (current article)
Last Updated: 31 March 2018
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