German Sentence Structures For English Speakers! (copy)

🥙 Why are German Sentence Structures so Confusing?

Like English, a rudimentary German sentence comprises two elements -- SUBJECT NOUN + CONJUGATED VERB. In other words, we talk about someone / something carrying out or receiving an action.

These are all sentences that are as basic as it gets: SUBJECT + VERB, and this concept is shared by English and German.

So why is it still bloody difficult to construct grammatically correct German sentences?

Well, it all comes down to one major difference -- German has more flexible sentence structures compared to English.

Check out this sentence:

We know exactly who is giving what and to whom.

But if we alter the sentence structure — that is, change the word order around (e.g. The dog gives the man the bone)– the meaning of the sentence is also changed. Sometimes, we can shuffle the word order around to the point that the meaning no longer even makes sense, as in “The bone gives the man the dog.”

Hence, from this example, we can deduce that English is more rigid in terms of sentence structures.

German, on the other hand, is a different story. German has multiple sentence structures for a meaning because it uses DECLENSIONS (will update the notes later) to communicate who is what in a sentence.

For example, in German, we can say “The man gives the dog the bone” in three different constellations all while the same meaning stays intact:

Therefore, we cannot use our understanding of the English structure in German. We have to view German grammar as a different entity.

If you’re still confused with the basic nuances of sentence structures, consider this way of thinking:

I know German can be difficult, but I have faith in the process, and I know we can do it together!

… Oh, and if you find yourself needing a hug, do reach out to me and we’ll cry together.

Peace out for now ✌

🍺 Introducing The Fantastic Four (WIP)

There are TWO unbreakable principles in German sentence structures.

Since that’s out of the way, let me introduce the four types of sentence structures (or as I’d like to call it, the Fantastic Four) in Deutsch:

1. Standard (Subject + Verb + More Nouns + More Verbs)

2. Inverted (Verb + Subject + More Nouns + More Verbs)

3. Transposed (More Nouns + Subject + Verb + More Verbs)

4. Subordinated

(❁´◡`❁) PATTERN 1 (Standard) is your default sentence structure (unless you meet specific criteria that require you to use the other patterns)

SUBJECT + VERB + MORE NOUNS + MORE VERBS

Examples:

• Ich trinke Wasser. -- I drink water.

• Jamie und Linda essen Brot. -- Jamie and Linda eat bread.

ヾ(•ω•`)o PATTERN 2 (Inverted) is used primarily when you’re asking a yes / no question.

VERB + SUBJECT + MORE NOUNS + MORE VERBS

Examples:

• Spielst du Klavier? -- Do you play the clavier?

• Möchtest du mitfahren? -- Would you like to get a ride?

(✿◕‿◕✿) PATTERN 3 (Transposed) is used when there’s an element in the sentence you want to emphasize.

MORE NOUNS + VERB + SUBJECT + MORE VERBS

This sentence structure is more commonly used in German, but rarely in English.

Look at this standard sentence pattern example:

Now look at it with a TRANSPOSED structure:

We can use the transposed sentence structure with yes/no questions, too, which generally expresses incredulity:

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ PATTERN 4 (Subordinate) is used in a dependent, a.k.a. subordinating clause.

🏰 What About Adjectives?

In the section above, I talked about the TWO unbreakable principles:

And so far, all our sentence structures adhere to these principles.

So, if you have adjectives in your sentence, do not change these basic structures. Simply insert the adjectives in the slots prior to the noun that ends the sentence.

🦊 Avoid This Common Mistake!

Loads of German learners tend to forget the second principle:

This is common, especially when we want to construct a transposed structure.

In English, we kinda sorta use the transposed pattern, but just with time adverbials:

But but!!! The big difference here is that AFTER the time adverbials, the word order remains SUBJECT + VERB, whereas in German, the subject and verb must be SWAPPED so that the verb remains in position #2!