Word order
9
You saw the basic structure of clauses and sentences in chapter 1 (sections 1.7–1.10). This chapter tells you more about the order of words and phrases within the sentence. At the end of the chapter you will find a comprehensive word order table for reference. It’s helpful to use this together with the table of sentence patterns (8.1): the VALENCY of the main verb determines what objects and other complements form part of the clause or sentence. German word order can be more flexible than English word order because the function of each noun phrase in the sentence is defined by its CASE (indicated by endings), not by its position. There are four principles to remember, and these are explained in this chapter:
The MAIN VERB determines the main elements of the clause and its parts form a BRACKET round the other words, which make up the CENTRAL SECTION of the clause (9.1–9.2): Ingenieure haben jetzt für das Handy der Zukunft ein neues Konzept entwickelt. Engineers have now developed a new concept for the mobile of the future. Dieses Jahr werden 135 000 Menschen in Deutschland an Alzheimer erkranken. This year 135 000 people will become ill with Alzheimer’s disease in Germany.
In MAIN CLAUSES, the FINITE VERB comes in second position. There is only one element before the finite verb. This is the word or phrase you want to say something about (the ‘topic’). This may be the subject (the ‘doer’ of the action) but it does not have to be (9.3): Ingenieure haben jetzt für das Handy der Zukunft ein neues Konzept entwickelt. Für das Handy der Zukunft haben Ingenieure jetzt ein neues Konzept entwickelt. Dieses Jahr werden 135 000 Menschen in Deutschland an Alzheimer erkranken. 135 000 Menschen werden dieses Jahr in Deutschland an Alzheimer erkranken.
In SUBORDINATE CLAUSES, all parts of the verb come at the end but the order of the other words is the same as for the central section of a main clause (9.1–9.2): Experten schätzen, dass 135 000 Menschen dieses Jahr in Deutschland an Alzheimer erkranken werden.
