Scary scary German syntax... right?
The following sentence exhibits a typical mistake German-learners make:
Heute ich gehe in ein Museum.
It's not conjugation ("ich gehe" is correct!), it's not declension ("ein Museum" is correct too!).
The issue is "heute ich gehe".
Correct would be: Heute gehe ich in ein Museum (or: Ich gehe heute in ein Museum.)
What's the rule here?
It's unfortunately not simply "there can only be one word before the verb"
German word order is so difficult be cause it is so variable.
All following sentences are correct and synoymous (though emphasis shifts):
- Der Opa schenkt seiner Enkelin zum Geburtstag ein Buch über Autos.
- Seiner Enkelin schenkt der Opa zum Geburtstag ein Buch über Autos.
- Ein Buch über Autos schenkt der Opa seiner Enkelin zum Geburtstag.
- Zum Geburtstag schenkt der Opa seiner Enkelin ein Buch über Autos.
All mean: The grandfather gifts his niece a book about cars for her birthday.
What do they all have in common, syntax-wise?
There's only one phrase in front of the finite verb.
What does this mean?
A phrase is a completed (!) unit that can consist of one or more words (depending on the word class (-> noun, verb, …))
Typical word classes that can be a phrase with just one word are:
- Proper nouns, plural nouns, personal pronouns, relative pronous (Lukas kocht. Busse fahren. Ich schreibe. Der Mann, der kocht, …)
- Adverbs (Heute, Morgen, Bald, Dort, Darum, …)
Most other word classes need additional words to form a full phrase:
- adjectives need a noun and article: der blaue Ball, der freundliche Nachbar
- nouns need a determiner (= article): der Mann, eine Frau, das Nachbarskind
- prepositions need… stuff (often a noun phrase): auf der Mauer, in dem Glas, bei der Statue
- …
A finite verb is the verb that has been changed (=conjugated) according to person, time, …
All verbs that are NOT infinitive or participles are finite.
ich sagte -> "sagte" is the finite verb
ich bin gegangen -> "bin" is the finite verb
The infinitive and the participle are called "infinite verbs" and are always pushed towards the end (but not always the very end!) of the sentence:
Ich bin schon früher nach Hause gegangen als meine Freunde.
So: Before the verb (that is not the participle or infinitive) there can only be one phrase.
Since "heute" is an adverb (-> forms a full phrase on its own) and "ich" is a personal pronoun (-> forms a full phrase on its own), they can't both be in front of the verb "gehe"
You have to push one of them behind the verb:
Heute gehe ich in ein Museum
Ich gehe heute in ein Museum.
Both of these are main clauses (Ger.: Hauptsätze), which in German exhibit "V-2 Stellung", meaning the finite verb is in the second position (after one phrase).
What happens if we push all phrases behind the finite verb?
Gehe ich heute in ein Museum? (Watch out: Gehe heute ich in ein Museum would be ungrammatical! The subject has to come in the second position)
It's a question now!
In German, question sentences (that do not start with a question word like "Was?", "Wo?", …) start with the finite verb (called "V-1 Stellung").
Questions, main clauses,… what's missing?
Dependent clauses!
The third type of sentence exhibits "V-letzt Stellung" or "V-End Stellung", meaning the finite verb is at the very end of the sentence.
Ich bin gestern in ein Museum gegangen, …
main clause -> V-2 Stellung
… weil es dort eine interessante Ausstellung gab.
dependent clause -> V-letzt Stellung
If you want to practice this....
... determine if the following German sentences are correct. If not, what would be the right way to say it?
- Der Zug war sehr voll.
- Gestern ich war in der Schule.
- Die Lehrerin mich nicht hat korrigiert.
- Gehst du heute zur Arbeit?
- Das Buch ich finde nicht sehr interessant.
To practice this further, translate the following sentences into German and focus on the order of words:
- The boy gave the ball back to me.
- I called my girlfriend because I missed her.
- The girl saw her brother at the train station.
- The horse, which was standing on the field, was white and black.
