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Word position
The basics
The right word position is what will make (or break) your German sentence. What structures can help you to learn the basics? First rule: A typical sentence consists of a subject (S), a verb (V), and an optional object (O) in the following order:
S-V-O
Example: Ich lerne Deutsch. I learn German.
Second rule: The verb gets conjugated according to the subject.
In the example you see the conjugatio for “I”. Here are the others:
Ich lerne
Du lernst
Er/sie/es/man lernt
Wir lernen
Ihr lernt
Sie, sie lernen
If you want to learn the personal pronouns a bit more and practice the conjugations, click on the free lesson on the right side.
Questions
In a question, we need to change our word position. Questions can either have a question word or not (then it is a yes/no question).
When not, the verb must be put in position 1 of the sentence in front of the subject.
V-S-O?
Example: Lernst du Deutsch? Do you learn German?
In our answer, we can now confirm or deny it.
Example 1: Ja, ich lerne Deutsch. Yes, I learn German.
Example 2: Nein, ich lerne nicht Deutsch. or: Nein, ich lerne kein Deutsch. No I do not learn German.
Question words come also in position 1, BUT the verb follows, so it is still in front of the subject!
QW-V-S-O?
Example: Wie lernst du Deutsch. How do you learn German?
Ich lerne Deutsch mit Go-German.online. I learn German with Go-german.online.
Practice the word position in yes/no questions on the right side in video #2 – invest some minutes to get the basics right!
Rhetorical questions
…are in most languages part of conversations. We use them to express an expectation, surprise or maybe to provoke somebody. If you talk with a native, you need to pay attention to those little words “nicht” or “kein”, because your answer has to change.
Example: Lernst du nicht Deutsch?Aren’t you learning German?
If the person asking is right, and you indeed do not learn German, you answer:
Nein, ich lerne kein Deutsch.
But if the person asking is wrong, so the opposite is right (= you do learn German). you must say:
Doch, ich lerne Deutsch.
It does not have a real translation, maybe like “Yes, of course!” but this is really far-fetched. A bit confusing, isn’t it? After watching video #3 on the left side you will be an expert!
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Impressum
Anna Ambatielou, Dresden
E-Mail: los_sprachschule@yahoo.com
Website: go-german.online