Basic syntax


Article about German written in .

In German, the usual sentence order is: Subject - Verb - Object.
Example: Ich lese ein Buch. (I read a book.)
Very similar to English, isn't it?

You can put as many objects as you want into a sentence.
Example: Ich lese morgens im Bett ein Buch. (I read a book in bed in the morning.)
The order of the objects is not strict. You could also say:
Ich lese im Bett morgens ein Buch.
Ich lese morgens ein Buch im Bett.
Ich lese ein Buch morgens im Bett.
Just keep in mind that the focus is on the last object you cite. So it depends on wheter you want to point out that you read a book, that you read in bed or that you read in the morning.

What about questions?
There are two types of them.
1.) Yes/No Questions
They follow the order: Verb - Subject - Object
Example: Liest du ein Buch? (Do you read a book?)
2.) Questions with a question wordare basically the same, just with a question word in the first place.
Example: Wann liest du ein Buch? (When do you read a book?)

Now the tricky part: subordinate clauses. Ever heard the rumour that the verb is in the very last position in German? Well, this is where that rumour comes from.
Indeed, a subordinate clause would look like that: Ich lache, wenn ich ein lustiges Buch lese. (I laugh when I read a funny book)
The main clause (Ich lache) is fine: the order is subject - object. The subordinate clause stars behind the comma with a conjunction (wenn) followed by the order Subject - Object - Verb.

Ask me if you got any questions =)

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