WUL: Wortstellung (Word Order) - Rules

Wortstellung (Word Order) - Rules

German is much more flexible as far as in which order words come in a sentence. Look at the sentence below:

• The son asks the father a question.
  • We know the son was the one asking the question (subject) because it comes first in the sentence.

• The father asks the son a question.
  • We know the father was the one asking the question (subject) because it comes first in the sentence.

In English we rely heavily on the word order for meaning. German is much more flexible because it relies on what we call a case system (Nominative, Accusative, Dative and Genitive). Review the previous module Meine Familie for review.

For now, keep in mind that because the meaning of a sentence in German is not dependent on the word order, the sentence structure is much more flexible. However, there are some very easy and important basic rules to remember about German word order.

In a simple German statement the verb is always the second element in a sentence. This does not necessarily mean it will be the second word, but rather the second element. Keep reading for examples.

Let's look at the following sentence:

Notice that the verb "ist" is the second element in this sentence.

Adding an adverb

More specific information can be added to this sentence by introducing an adverb such as heute (today) or in Berlin at the beginning of the sentence. If an adverb is included, the verb would still have to come in the second position:

(Today it is sunny)

(In Berlin it is sunny)

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