Word Order - A Simple Sentence in Detail

The word order (Wortstellung) is the order that the elements of a sentence are placed in, and are used to derive meaning from the sentence. Word order plays a very important role in correctly discerning the meaning of an English sentence. In German, however, it is more flexible, as this lesson will demonstrate.

Starting Off

Here is a simple sentence:

Der Mann gibt der Frau das Buch.

The man gives the woman the book.

In this example, the word order of the German and English sentences are identical. In English, the word order is used to identify the subject and the objects of a verb. If we were to alter the order of the English sentence to:

The woman gives the man the book.

Then the sentence takes on a different meaning. Previously, the “who” of the sentence was “the man” but now it is “the woman”. Similarly, the “whom” of the previous sentence was “the woman” but now it has become “the man”. You cannot change the order of the subjects and objects while still retaining the original meaning.

Not so in the German language. In German, it is the case endings, not the word order, which definitively tells us who is doing what to whom. So the following sentences can all mean the same thing:

Der Mann gibt der Frau das Buch.

Der Mann gibt das Buch der Frau.

Der Frau gibt der Mann das Buch.

Der Frau gibt das Buch der Mann.

Das Buch gibt der Mann der Frau.

Das Buch gibt der Frau der Mann.

If we extract the subject and the objects from the German sentence, we get:

Subject = Der Mann

Direct Object = Das Buch

Indirect Object = Der Frau

How is this determined? In German, there are four cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive. The first three match the subject, the direct object, and the indirect object. So:

Subject = Nominative

Direct Object = Accusative

Indirect Object = Dative

How did we then determine that? By context, and by looking at the case endings of the definite and indefinite articles in the sentence. Each case has its own articles for each gender and number (e.g. singular or plural). For example, for Dative we have the following definite articles:

Masculine: Dem

Feminine: Der

Neuter: Dem

Plural: Den

By knowing how cases inflect articles, we can determine that:

“Mann” is the subject because it has the Nominative article of Der for masculine singular nouns. If it were the direct object, its article would be the Accusative Den, while if it were the indirect object, its article would be the Dative Dem.

“Frau” is the indirect object because it has Dative article of Der for feminine singular nouns. If it were the subject, its article would be the Nominative Die, while if it were the direct object, its article would be the Accusative Die.

“Buch” is the direct object because it has the Accusative article of Das. This is clear for two grammatical reasons and one contextual reason.

Firstly, if it were the subject its article would be the identical-looking Nominative article of Das. However, we know it is not the subject because “Mann” has its Nominative article of Der, which is unique to its case. Its Accusative article is Den and its Dative article is Dem, which are spelt differently.

Secondly, if it were the direct object its article would be the Dative article of Dem. However, that is not its article and we already previously determined that “Frau” is the indirect object.

Lastly, contexually, it must be the direct object. A book normally cannot give a woman to a man, nor can a man give a woman to a book.

Through these types of deductions, we can determine the essential meaning of any simple sentence, regardless of the order of the subject, direct object, and indirect object respectively.

As you can see, word order is more flexible in German than in English. However, there is one element of the sentence above that we have not touched upon, whose placement in a sentence is virtually non-negotiable: the finite verb.

The Golden Rule

The essential feature of any German sentence is the position of the finite verb in a clause. The finite verb is the form of the verb that has a subject; the conjugated verb.

There are three basic types of clauses: main clause statements; questions and commands; and subordinate clauses.

The sentence from before is a main clause. Here it is again:

Der Mann gibt der Frau das Buch.

The man gives the woman the book.

As we have learned, the subjects and objects of a sentence can be moved around. What cannot be moved is the finite verb. If you take only one thing from this lesson, it should be the following:

GOLDEN RULE: In a main clause, the finite verb is the second element of the clause.

Questions & Statements

If we alter the sentence into a question and a command, we get a different structure:

Gibt der Mann der Frau das Buch?

Is the man giving the woman the book?

Geben Sie der Frau das Buch!

Give the woman the book!

This time the finite verb is the first element of the clause.

Thus, in a question or command clause, the finite verb is the first element of the clause.

Auxiliary Verbs

The sentence we have been working with contains only one verb. What do you do when you want an auxiliary verb to indicate the modality? In other words, when you want to add one of the following verbs.

dürfen to be permitted to, “may”

können to be able to, “can”

mögen to like

müssen to have to, “must”

sollen to be supposed to, “should”

wollen to want, “will”

When the modality of a verb is indicated, the modal verb becomes the finite verb. However, there can only be one finite verb per basic clause, so the original verb must change its form. It becomes its infinitive form and is placed in the last position of the main or question clause. For example:

Der Mann muss der Frau das Buch geben.

The man must give the woman the book.

Kann der Mann der Frau das Buch geben?

Can the man give the woman the book?

The same word order applies for the other auxiliaries which are used to indicate tense and voice. Namely:

sein to be

haben to have

werden to become

What differs instead is whether you are talking in the Present Prefect Tense, where you require the past participle of the main verb, or the in the Future tense, where you require the infinitive of the original verb. Thus:

Der Mann hat der Frau das Buch gegeben.

The man has given the woman the book.

Hat der Mann der Frau das Buch gegeben?

Has the man given the woman the book?

Der Mann wird der Frau das Buch geben.

The man will give the woman the book.

Wird der Mann der Frau das Buch geben?

Will the man give the woman the book?

Subordinate Clause

A subordinate clause differs from a main clause in that it cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. It requires additional information to complete the sentence. For example:

Because she wants it.

This is incomplete: it gives the reason for something, of which we do not know. To complete it, we must add the main clause.

The man gives the woman the book because she wants it.

If we now add a subordinate clause to the original sentence:

Der Mann gibt der Frau das Buch, weil sie es will.

The man gives the woman the book because she wants it.

Then we see that the finite verb is the last element of the subordinate clause. Furthermore, the subordinating conjunction, indicated by weil, is virtually always the first element of the subordinate clause.

Thus, in a subordinate clause, the finite verb is (usually) the last element of the clause.

These rules hold when we add an auxiliary verb.

Der Mann gibt der Frau das Buch, weil sie es haben muss.

The man gives the woman the book because she must have it.

The auxiliary verb has become the finite verb and so is the last element. The original verb, which has been modified into its infinitive form, has become the second last position of the clause.

Like in English, the subordinate clause can be placed at the beginning of the sentence.

Weil die Frau das Buch haben muss, gibt der Mann es ihr.

Because the woman must have the book, the man gives it to her.

Does this not break the Golden Rule? No, because the first position of the main clause is occupied by the subordinate clause and the second position is still that of the finite verb. If we deconstruct the main clause we get:

[subordinate clause], [finite verb] [subject] [accusative pronoun] [dative pronoun].

As you can see, the finite verb remains as the second element of the main clause and so the sentence continues to follow the Golden Rule.

“Word Order” is a bit of a misnomer: an element of a sentence is rarely a single word but often a phrase of some kind.

Finally, how do we determine whether a clause is subordinating? If the clause begins with:

1) One of several subordinating conjunctions, common examples of which are:

bevor (before) dass (that) ob (whether) wenn (if, when)

2) A relative pronoun, including the interrogative pronouns.

Conclusion

This lesson covered only a simple sentence and mainly only used noun objects, i.e. no pronouns, and it should give you the foundation to form grammatically valid German sentences. To summarise the main points:

For Subjects and Objects:

Use the case endings, not the word order, to determine who is doing what to whom.

For Verbs:

GOLDEN RULE: In a main clause, the finite verb is the second element of the clause.
In a question or command clause, the finite verb is the first element of the clause.
In a subordinate clause, the finite verb is (usually) the last element of the clause.
There can only be one finite verb in each of these clauses.
In a main or question/command clause, if the finite verb is an auxiliary verb, the modified original verb is last element of the clause. In a subordinate clause, it is the second last element of the clause.

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