# 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.

## 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 (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 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

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.