day 2 of our German advent calendar, and this time you need to get active with a nice session of WoW. No, nerds… the other WoW. This one:
word order workout
Now you’re like “Waiiit, I thought we get surprises. Not work.” but hey … in every advent calendar there are some things you don’t like. Like brittle. Ewwww. I hate that stuff. So put on your yoga pants and get ready for a quick
How does it work?
We’ve done this kind of exercise before but that’s already a while ago, so let me explain real quick. I’ll give you a few short sentences that are clearly connected by context and you have to join them together. Let’s do an example in English: Continue reading →
Look for German word order and you'll likely see the TeKaMoLo rule. But that rule is overrated and fails a lot. Today, we'll learn how, and what's really going on.
and welcome to a new chapter in our absolutely epic German language course.
And this module will be all about one of the most confusing topics of German grammar. Which could of course be pretty much any aspect of German grammar, but for today, it is going to be
German Word Order
And if you think of German as a language that is big about rules, you’ll be VERY surprised actually at what’s going on under the surface. Because word order is NOT about rules. It’s a delicate dance of different forces and in most cases, there is not THE ONE correct answer.
So here’s what we’ll do. First we’ll take a look at the commonly known rules for word order and we’ll explain why they suck…what their shortcomings are. Then, we’ll have a look at what German word order is really about and then, we’ll finally zero in on one core idea. An idea that explains… everything**. (Disclaimer: word dramatized! Idea may not actually explain literally everything. No refunds!) So are you ready to dive in and find out? Great.
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German sentence structure is very confusing to many students. In this article, we'll learn a way of looking at sentences, that'll make everything a lot more clear.
************************************************************************* Before you start reading…
This post is more of about a general theory as well as the terminology I use to explain German structure (word order, position of nicht and so on) I really recommend reading this, but if you want to get to word-order right… there’s a mini-series about that. Here’s the link to part 1 :)
and welcome to our German is Easy Learn German Online while reading titles that span over one line Course… ( get it? … one line is almost spelled like online… that was a joke by the way) . Today, after a long looooong wait, it is time… for the first part of the mini series series on German sentence structure. Wohooooo…. And to do the matter justice this mini series will be a loosely connected compendium of impressionistic essays, poems, songs and one or two Haikus inspired by the topic. “But we want rules, Emanuel! Give us RULES, BRO!!” I understand where you’re coming from. But can a rule help us understand the erratic path of a butterfly? Can a rule ever completely capture and produce the beautiful sound of small stream as it purls over mossy rocks? And aren’t there exceptions where there are rules just as there is fire where there’s smoke? My whole point is – and this is really really important:
rules won’t cut it with German sentence structure
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like you can put anything anywhere in a German sentence. When it comes to verbs, there are some iron clad rules and in books and other sources (like Easy German… hey Cari ;)) you can find other rules too, like, say, indirect object – direct object or time-manner-place. But what’s really really important is that you try to see them like traffic lights: non-binding advice. Wait, is that actually right :)? Anyways, German sentence structure and word order is a complex thing that needs a lot of gut feeling. We’ll learn some rules in this mini series, but the more important part are general ideas or characteristics of German, that will help you determine which word can go where and why. And to start this all of we will have a look at what I call:
The Box Model
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Part two of our look at German Word Order and sentence structure. Part one was the groundwork - now it's time, to actually use it and look at some sentences.
and welcome to the second part of our look at the mess that seems to be
German Word Order
And before we get to it let’s do a super quick recap what we learned in part one. (find it here) we’ve learned three things. Number one: The rules you can usually find are … not very good. And how could they. Because number 2: There are no rules. And there’s not one correct order. There’s a default order which is the result of a fascinating interplay of several forces, pulling the elements in different directions. And the speaker has a lot of freedom to rearrange stuff for emphasis. Problem is that these interactions are uber complex and dynamic. We cannot really “learn” that. Which leads us directly to number three: In linguistics there is the concept of a head of a phrase and we learned that German is at it’s soul a head-final language. You know… like its close relatives Korean and Japanese. They’re head final too. Today, we’ll find out how this head-final-ness of German can help us explain everything. Well, not everything, but a lot. It’s going to be tough and I’m not saying that every sentence you’ll ever say will be correct. But at least things will make sense. Promise!
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As a member you’ll get unlimited access to the entire archive with over 700 articles on vocabulary and grammar – with lots of information you won’t find anywhere else. Not in class, not in a textbook and not Duolingo or Youtube.
And you get other premium features like pdf-download, progress tracking, note taking and comment notifications. And more cool stuff in the pipeline, because I am actually actively working on this project.
In the last part of our mini series, we'll apply what we've learned and also learn a really helpful analogy that can help get a "feel" for word order in German.
And no, there will be no recap. Our poles won’t get one either. Wow, Worst Pun Ever Award, I’m coming. Anyway, so last time was all about head final and the notion of important stuff coming very late. But it turned out that this couldn’t quite explain everything. Because it’s actually only half of the the truth. Today, we’ll look at the other half. So… are you ready to jump in once more, even if the water looks a little nerdy? Awesome.
Oh no… looks like you just reached the limit you can read for free.
As a member you’ll get unlimited access to the entire archive with over 700 articles on vocabulary and grammar – with lots of information you won’t find anywhere else. Not in class, not in a textbook and not Duolingo or Youtube.
And you get other premium features like pdf-download, progress tracking, note taking and comment notifications. And more cool stuff in the pipeline, because I am actually actively working on this project.
Hi everyone,
Hello everyone,
