German sentence structure

German sentence structure is the structure to which the German language adheres. The basic sentence in German follows SVO word order. 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 (subject–object–verb word order).

Independent clauses

Declarative sentences

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 (). Coordinating conjunctions like ('and') or ('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 sentence in the following order:
* (what is the most important thing within all the elements following the finite verb?)
**The word when taking the meaning of "then suddenly" must take the first place. ('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.
* ('what?' - the conjugated verb)
**In this case, a form of is inserted for the conjugated verb, as in "" ("Working, that's what we do").
* ('who?' - the subject)
* ('to/for whom' – dative object)
* ('when' – time)
* ('why' – reason)
* ('how' – manner)
* ('where' – place)
* ('whom' – accusative object)
* / ('to/from where')
* Verb, (first part of the separable verb)

. Literally, 'We go on Friday together to the movies.'

. 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: / OR'He was greater than me.'

German often structure a sentence according to increasing importance of the phrase towards the conversation. So:

'We're going to the movies on Thursday.'

BUT

'(On) What day are we going to the movies?'

'On Thursday we're going to the movies.'OR '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 is giving me tomorrow the book.' BUT 'Florian is giving it to me tomorrow.'

Inversion

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:
:"" 'I fly fast.' – unstressed
:"" 'I fly fast.' – stressed ""/'fast' (i.e., "Fast is how I fly.")

Example 2:
:"" 'You are lovely." – unstressed
:"" 'You are lovely.' – stressed ""/'lovely' (i.e., "Lovely is what you are.")

Example 3:
:"" 'I ran.' – unstressed
:"" 'I ran!' – stressed ""/'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.

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

Wh questions

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

Commands

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:

Dependent clauses

Subordinate clauses use Vfinal word order.

'That' clauses

Using ''dass'' 'that':

Clauses headed by a subordinator

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.

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'.).

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

References

{{Reflist

Word order
Sentence Structure