Word Order

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Word order

1. Word order in main clauses: Subject + verb

The subject comes first and is followed by the verb, as in English.

Seine Mutter (subject) trinkt (verb) Whisky.

His mother drinks whisky.

In tenses with more than one verb element, such as the perfect tense and the passive, the part of haben, sein or werden comes after the subject, and the past participle or infinitive goes to the end of the clause.

Sie hat mir nichts gesagt.	She told me nothing.
Er ist spät angekommen.	He arrived late.
Es wurde für ihn gekauft.	It was bought for him.

Indirect object + direct object: a direct object follows an indirect object, except where the direct object is a personal pronoun.

Ich gab dem Mann (indirect object) das Geld (direct object).	I gave the man the money.
Ich gab ihm (indirect object) das Geld (direct object).	I gave him the money.
BUT
Ich gab es (direct object) ihm (indirect object).	I gave it to him.

The indirect object can also be placed last for emphasis, providing it is NOT a pronoun.

Er gab das Geld seiner Schwester.

He gave the money to his sister.(Not to his brother)

Where there is a pronoun object (a word like her, it, me or them) in a sentence, it comes before all adverbs.

Sie haben es gestern sehr billig gekauft.

They bought it very cheaply yesterday.

2. (An adverb, etc.) + verb + subject: the verb always remain the second place in the clause.

An adverb + verb + subject

Gestern sind wir ins Theater gegangen.

We went to the theatre yesterday.

A direct or indirect object + verb + subject

Seinen Freunden wollte er es nicht zeigen.

He wouldn’t show it to his friends.

An infinitive phrase + verb + subject

Ihren Freunden zu helfen, hat sie nicht versucht.

She didn’t try to help her friends.

Another noun or pronoun + verb + subject

Deine Schwester war es.	It was your sister.
Sie war es.	It was her.

A past participle + verb + subject

Geraucht hatte er nie.

He had never, ever smoked.

A phrase with a preposition + verb + subject

In diesem Haus bin ich auf die Welt gekommen.

I was born in this house.

A clause which acts as the object of the verb + verb + subject

Was mit ihm los war, haben wir nie herausgefunden.

We never found out what was wrong with him.

A subordinate clause + verb + subject

Nachdem ich ihn gesehen hatte, ging ich nach Hause.

I went home after seeing him.

3. Word order with adverbs

Wir haben gestern gut dorthin gefunden.

We found our way there all right yesterday.

A general rule: Time + Manner + Place

Adverbs of time often come first in the sentence, but this is not fixed.
Adverbs of place can be put at the beginning of a sentence to provide emphasis.
Adverbs of manner are adverbs which comment on verbs. These are likely to come after the verb to which they refer, but in tenses which are made up of haben or sein + the past participle of the main verb, they come immediately before the past participle.

Wir haben gestern gut hierhin gefunden.	We found our way here all right yesterday.
gestern = adverb of time
gut = adverb of manner
hierhin = adverb of place

Morgen gehen wir ins Theater OR:
Wir gehen morgen ins Theater.	We’re going to the theatre tomorrow.
Dort haben sie Fußball gespielt OR:
Sie haben dort Fußball gespielt	They played football there.

Sie spielen gut.	They play well.
Sie haben heute gut gespielt.	They played well today.
Du benimmst dich immer schlecht.	You always behave badly.
Du hast dich schlecht benommen.	You have behaved badly.

4. In questions, the conjugated verb is in the second position:

Was hast* du gemacht?*	What have you done?
Warum sagst* du das?*	Why do you say that?

5. In an imperative statement (a direct order), the conjugated verb comes first, just like in English:

*Sei* still!	Be quiet!
*Gib* mir das!	Give me that!

nicht comes at the end of a negative imperative.

except if the verb is separable, in which case it comes before the separable prefix.

Iss das nicht!	Don’t eat that!
Setzen Sie sich nicht!	Don’t sit down!
BUT
Geh nicht weg!	Don’t go away!

6. Word order with negatives
1) In the present tense: verb + nicht/nie.

In direct questions: Subject + nicht/nie

Du arbeitest nicht.	You’re not working.
Arbeitest du nicht?	Aren’t you working?

In the perfect tense and the passive: Subject + the part of haben, sein or warden + nicht/nie + pp/infinite.

The position of the negative doesn’t change in direct questions.

Sie haben es nicht gemacht.	You haven’t done it.
Haben Sie es nicht gemacht?	Haven’t you done it?

You can move the position of the negative. For example, nie can be placed at the start of the sentence. The subject and verb then swap positions.

Sie waren nie glücklicher gewesen.	They had never been happier.
Nie waren sie glücklicher gewesen.
Er hatte nie im Leben so etwas gesehen.	Never in his life had he seen such a thing.
Nie im Leben hatte er so etwas gesehen.

7. Word order with separable prefixes

In the present and the imperfect tense, the separable prefix is placed at the end of the main clause.

Der Bus kam immer spät an.

The bus was always late.

In subordinate clauses, the prefix is attached to the verb, which is then placed at the end of the subordinate clause.

Weil der Bus spät ankam, verpasste sie den Zug.

Because the bus arrived late, she missed the train.

In infinitive phrases using zu, the zu is inserted between the verb and its prefix to form one word.

Um rechtzeitig aufzustehen, muss ich den Wecker stellen.

In order to get up on time I’ll have to set the alarm.

8. Word order with subordinating clauses (introduced by da, als, weil, or ob):

send the verb to the end

In the present and imperfect tense, the verb comes last in the subordinate clause.

Sie ist zu Fuß gekommen, weil der Bus zu teuer ist.	She came on foot because the bus is too dear.
MAIN CLAUSE	= Sie ist zu Fuß gekommen
SUBORDINATE CLAUSE	= weil der Bus zu teuer ist
Ich weiß nicht, ob er kommt.	I don’t know if he’s coming.

In the perfect tense, it is the form of haben, sein or werden which comes last in the subordinate clause, after the past participle.

Sie will nicht ausgehen, weil sie noch nichts gegessen hat.

She doesn’t want to go out because she hasn’t eaten anything yet.

When the subordinate clause come BEFORE the main clause, then the verb and subject of the main clause swap places.

Wenn er mich sah, lief er davon.	Whenever he saw me, he ran away.
Da sie nicht schwimmen wollte, ist sie nicht mitgekommen.	As she didn’t want to swim, she didn’t come.
Als ich nach Hause kam, war ich ganz müde.	When I came home I was really tired.

The exceptions are

A clause which normally begins with wenn, but from which it can be left out.

Findest du mein Handy, so ruf mich bitte an.

If you find my mobile, please give me a call.

INSTEAD OF

Wenn du mein Handy findest, ruf mich bitte an.

Indirect speech without the conjunction dass (meaning that).

Sie meint, sie werde es innerhalb einer Stunde schaffen.

She thinks (that) she will manage it within an hour.

INSTEAD OF

Sie meint, dass sie es innerhalb einer Stunde schaffen wird.

Any modal verb, for example mögen (meaning to like) and können (meaning can, to be able to), used in a subordinate clause is placed last in the clause.

Sie wusste nicht, ob sie kommen konnte.

She didn’t know if she could come.

Wenn du möchtest, kannst du bei mir bleiben.

If you’d like, you can stay with me.

9. Word order in subordinate clause, introduced by a relative pronoun (such as der, die or dessen)

Die Kinder, die wir gesehen haben …

The children whom we saw …