8.1 Sentence patterns
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This chapter explains the common sentence patterns and complements – in particular those German constructions which differ from English – and also other uses of the cases:
sentence patterns (8.1) reflexive verbs (8.2) the dative case (8.3–8.4)
the genitive case (8.5–8.6)
prepositional objects (8.7)
other complements (8.8–8.10).
8.1 Sentence patterns The VALENCY of the MAIN VERB of a sentence determines the pattern of that sentence. There are a limited number of possible combinations of verbs and complements, and therefore a limited number of possible sentence patterns. Some verbs can be used with more than one sentence pattern (see 1.1). It is useful to know the most common sentence patterns and to learn the valency of each verb, since this is what shapes the sentence – not knowing the possible uses of a verb is like working with a blunt tool. The meaning and the standard translation of a verb into English will sometimes give you an indication. For example, neither schwimmen nor ‘swim’ need an object, while both kaufen and ‘buy’ require ‘something’ to be bought (a direct object – in the accusative case in German). You should concentrate in particular on learning the valency of verbs that are used with complements other than an accusative object.
Especially with the more complicated sentence patterns, it is best to learn the verb together with a sentence that shows how it is used.
The subject The basis of all the sentence patterns is a verb and its subject. The SUBJECT always agrees with the FINITE VERB (see 1.2), but this may be an auxiliary or modal auxiliary verb rather than the main verb that conveys the action and determines the sentence pattern.
Transitive and intransitive verbs All verbs which are used with an accusative object (often called the DIRECT OBJECT – sentence patterns B, D, F, H and L) are known as TRANSITIVE VERBS. Those which are not used with an accusative object (sentence patterns A, C, E, G, I, J, K and M) are INTRANSITIVE VERBS. Only the accusative object of transitive verbs can be turned into the subject of a verb in the passive (see section 7.4).
The role of a subject or an object can be taken by a SUBORDINATE CLAUSE as well as by a noun phrase (see section 10.3).
