German Word Order and Sentence Structure Part 1

German Word Order

We have put together this quick reference guide to help you understand the word order in typical German sentences. This is one of the biggest aspects to learning German and one of the first challenges to get your head round. Practice makes perfect and soon the word order will be natural to you but in the meantime use this reference guide below to help keep on top of it. Learn and enjoy the German language with Jabbalab!

 

Sentences with a subject, direct object and one verb:

The subject (S) of the sentence comes first followed by the verb (V) and the direct object (DO) at the end.

For example:
Your father plays the piano. ⇨ Dein Vater (S) spielt (V) Klavier (DO).


Sentences with a subject, an indirect object, direct object and one verb:

Here the subject (S) of the sentence comes first, followed by the verb (V), then the indirect object (IO) and finally the direct object (DO).

For example:
I gave the woman the apple. ⇨ Ich (S) gab (V) der Frau (IO) den Apfel (DO).

He gave the people money. ⇨ Er (S) gab (V) den Leuten (IO) Geld (DO).

Two exceptions to this is when the direct object is a personal pronoun (e.g. ich, du, mich, dich etc.) or when you want to put extra emphasis on the indirect object. When this happens the direct object comes first, followed by the indirect object.

If the object is a masculine noun, e.g. der Apfel, it would be:
I gave it to her. ⇨ Ich (S) gab (V) ihn (DO) ihr (IO).

If it‘s a feminine noun, e.g. die Tasse, it would be:
I gave it to her. ⇨ Ich (S) gab (V) sie (DO) ihr (IO).

I gave the apple to the woman. ⇨ Ich (S) gab (V) den Apfel (DO) der Frau (IO).

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