Word order Flashcards
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His mother drinks whisky
Seine Mutter trinkt Whisky
The order is subject, verb, object like in English
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She didn’t tell me anything
Sie hat mir nichts gesagt
With 2 part verbs, the 2nd part goes to the end of the clause
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He arrived late
Er ist spät angekommen
With 2 part verbs, the 2nd part goes to the end of the clause
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It would be bought for him
Es würde für ihn gekauft
With 2 part verbs, the 2nd part goes to the end of the clause
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I gave the man the money
Ich gab dem Mann das Geld
An indirect object generally follows the verb
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I gave it to him
Ich gab es ihm
The direct object comes first except if the direct object is a pronoun
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He gave the money to his sister
Er gab das Geld seiner Schwester
The indirect object can be placed last for emphasis
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We went to the theater yesterday
Wir gingen gestern ins Theater
This phrase has the normal word order
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Yesterday we went to the theater
Gestern gingen wir ins Theater
The adverb of time is placed first for emphasis
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They played football there
Dort haben sie Fußball gespielt
The adverb of place is placed first for emphasis
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They play football well
Sie spielen gut Fußball
Normal word order, adverb of place comes after the verb
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We found our way here easily yesterday
Wir haben gestern gut hierhin gefunden
With more than one pronoun, the order is time, manner, place
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They bought it very cheaply yesterday
Sie haben es gestern sehr billig gekauft
Pronouns come before adverbs
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The children we saw
Die Kinder, die wir gesehen haben
A subordinate clause is introduced by a relative pronoun
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Since she didn’t want to swim, she didn’t come with us
Da sie nicht schwimmen wollte, ist sie nicht mitgekommen
A subordinate clause is introduced by a relative pronoun
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I don’t know if he’s coming
Ich weiß nicht, ob er kommt
A subordinate clause is introduced by a subordinating conjunction
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When I got home, I was very tired
Als ich nach Hause kam, war ich ganz müde
The verb goes to the end of a subordinate clause
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If you find my cell phone, please call me
Findest du mein Handy, so ruf mich bitte an
Here wenn is left out and the verb is not sent to the end of the clause
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She says she will do it within an hour
Sie meint, sie werde es innerhalb einer Stunde schaffen
Indirect speech in which dass has been left out
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He didn’t want to show his friends
Seinen Freunden wollte er es nicht zeigen
The indirect object is placed first for emphasis
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She didn’t try to help her friends
Ihren Freunden zu helfen, hat sie nicht versucht
The indirect object is placed first for emphasis
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It was your sister
Deine Schwester war es
Another noun is placed first
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It was her
Sie war es
A pronoun is placed first for emphasis
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He never needed it
Gebraucht hatte er nie
A past participle is placed first
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I was born in this house
In diesem Haus bin ich auf die Welt gekommen
A phrase is placed first
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We never found out what was wrong with him.
Was mit ihm los war, haben wir nie herausgefunden.
A clause acting as object is placed first
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Seeing him, I went home
Nachdem ich ihn gesehen hatte, ging ich nach Hause
A subordinate phrase is placed first
