In the simplest German sentences, the word order looks a lot like English word order: subject (do-er), verb (action word), object (undergoer).
Mein Raumschiff hat grüne Flügel.
My spaceship has green wings.
But even though one might initially think that German and English sentences look pretty much the same, German word order is actually quite different from English. As we add more to a sentence, you’ll start to notice these differences more.
Gestern ist mein Raumschiff pünktlich in Berlin gelandet.
Yesterday, my spaceship landed in Berlin on time.
lit. Yesterday has my spaceship on time in Berlin landed.
Sounds a bit like Martian speech? Perhaps, but German word order isn’t chaotic at all. There are rules that will help you master any German clause with ease.
In this post we’ll take you through the basic German word order rules that will have you putting the building blocks of a sentence together like a native. Along the way, you’ll learn about different types of clauses, different kinds of verbs, and we’ll direct you to resources where you can learn more and practice your new skills. Ready to have a look? Time for liftoff!
In German, can be placed in a variety of different locations in a sentence. To learn to position verbs correctly, you’ll need to learn the rules for the three basic clause types:
verb-second (V2) clauses
verb-final clauses
verb-initial clauses
Each type follows slightly different rules for verb placement. The good news is that if you learn when and how to form each type of clause, you’ll be well on your way to mastering the German word order rules, because the verbs provide the “framework” on which everything else is hung.
Let’s have a look at how to form and when to use each German clause type, then we’ll talk a bit about what you should do if a clause has more than one verb!
A clause is a phrase that contains everything you need to make a sentence, usually at least a subject and a verb. However, sometimes a sentence can actually be made from more than one clause:
I found the cat.
I found the cat … that had been lost.
I asked … who found the cat … that had been lost.
In a German V2 clause (or “verb-second clause”) the conjugated verb is always the second “element” in the clause. V2 clauses are usually used in the of a statement or a .
Der Astronaut kauft einen Raumanzug.
The astronaut buys a spacesuit.
Warum ist das Raumschiff kaputt?
Why is the spaceship broken?
But what is an “element”? When we’re talking about German word order, an “element” is a single word (e.g. warum) or a phrase that acts like a unit (e.g. der Astronaut). Here are some common types of “elements,” with some English examples:
an or :
→ e.g. “tomorrow,” “pretty soon,” “every three weeks”
a or :
→ e.g. “John,” “a house,” “this yellow house,” “Mrs. Murray’s house”
a :
→ e.g. “tomorrow,” “pretty soon,” “every three weeks”
In German content questions, the question word will always be the first element, so the word order in German content questions will usually look pretty familiar. However, not all German statements will use a word order that’s as familiar as the sentence we saw above!
In German statements we often use an element other than the subject as the first element. Usually it’s done to emphasize some other element, like an , an adverbial, a prepositional phrase, or even a modal particle. For example:
Jedes Jahr besuche ich diese Raumstation.
I visit this space station every year.
lit. Every year, visit I this space station.
Diese Raumstation besuche ich jedes Jahr.
I visit this space station every year.
lit. This space station visit I every year.
Coordinating conjunctions like und(and), aber(but), and oder(or) are used in sentences that have two main clauses, but they do not count as an element in the second clause! We can think of them as being in “zero position.”
Er sollte gestern ankommen, aber er ist in einen Meteoritenschauer geraten.
He was supposed to arrive yesterday, but he got into a meteorite shower.
In a German verb-final clause, the conjugated verb stands at the end. All German verb final clauses are — secondary clauses which complete or add information about the main situation being described by a sentence.
In German, we divide these into three main types, each of which you can learn more about from its own dedicated article:
Subordinate clauses complete or add information about the main clause as a whole:
Er kennt mich, weil ich diese Raumstation jedes Jahr besuche.
He knows me because I visit this space station every year.
Relative clauses → describe a noun:
Der Astronaut, der dieses Raumschiff fliegt, heißt Pirkheimer.
The astronaut who is flying this spaceship is called Pirkheimer.
Infinitive clauses → a type of subordinate clause built around an infinitive verb, with a subject:
Ich plane, die Raumstation morgen zu besuchen.
I plan to visit the space station tomorrow.
Notice that, in these clauses, the infinitive verb is still at the end, even though it’s not technically conjugated.
In German, dependent clauses can sometimes come before the main clause. When this happens, the dependent clause counts as the “first element” of the main clause. Because the main clause is a V2 clause, this means that the main verb will come right after the dependent clause:
Weil ich jedes Jahr die Raumstation besuche, kenne ich alle Ecken und Wege.
Because I visit the space station every year, I know all the nooks and crannies.
Verb-initial clauses are called that because they start with the conjugated verb. In German, we use this type of clause for and clauses.
Yes/no-question:
Fliegst du jedes Jahr zum Saturn?
Do you fly to Saturn every year?
lit. Fly you to Saturn every year?
Imperative clause:
Flieg mit mir zum Saturn!
Fly to Saturn with me!
While a German clause will only have one conjugated verb (that agrees with the subject etc.), there are several cases where you might also have more than one non-finite verb. This might be because you’re using a (e.g. “have gone”), a (e.g. “can clean”) or something similar.
In general, non-finite verbs will come at the end of the clause, regardless of the clause type. Let’s look at some examples:
V2 clause in the perfect tense:
Ich bin gestern auf Erdumlaufbahn gegangen.
I have gone into Earth’s orbit yesterday.
V2 clause with modal verb and infinitive:
Ich muss Treibstoff kaufen.
I have to buy fuel.
German separable-prefix verbs follow a similar pattern: the conjugated verb comes in one location while the prefix comes at the end of the clause:
Das Raumschiff holte die Forscher ab.
The spaceship picked up the scientists.
In cases where there is more than one non-finite verb form, these verb forms are “stacked” at the end of the clause:
Die Solarbatterie ist erst gestern aufgeladen worden.
The solar battery was charged only yesterday.
The sentence structure with the finite verb as the 2nd element and the non-finite forms at the end, is also sometimes referred to in German as the Satzrahmen(sentence frame), because the verb forms frame the other elements like a picture frame.
This principle, that non-finite verbs come at the end, applies universally to all clause types, including those that don’t use V2 word order, like questions and commands:
Werden wir morgen um diese Zeit schon auf dem Neptun gelandet sein?
Will we already have landed on Neptune tomorrow at this time?
It even mostly applies in clauses with verb-final word order, though in this case the conjugated verb still needs to come after the non-finite verb(s).
Ich komme morgen nach Hause, weil ich heute auf Erdumlaufbahn gegangen bin.
I am coming home tomorrow because I have gone into Earth’s orbit today.
Wow! That was a lot. Before we move on to talking about where to slot other elements into the German sentence frame, let’s look at a quick summary of the rules we’ve covered so far:
Clause Type | Description | Use for... |
|---|---|---|
V2 / Verb-second Clause | the verb comes second | main clause (statements), |
Verb-final Clause | the verb goes at the end | dependent clauses |
Verb-initial Clause | the verb starts the clause | yes/no questions, |
In a clause that contains other non-finite verbs, like participles or infinitives, these will come at the end (though they still come before the conjugated verb in a verb-final clause.)
If you’ve understood those main rules, you’re ready to move on to talking about where to put other elements like subjects, verbs, and descriptive words and phrases! Let’s have a closer look.
In German, a noun phrase is composed of a and the words that modify it. The elements of a noun phrase go in this order:
(s)
noun
genitive attribute
noun phrase in the
dem schnellen Raumschiff der berühmten Pilotin
the fast spaceship of the famous pilot
The grammatical of the noun will determine the grammatical case of all the other elements of a noun phrase except the genitive attribute. Remember, though, that the only required element is the noun — the article, adjective(s), and genitive attribute will not always be needed.
Additionally, a noun phrase can always be replaced by a , so pronouns can go in all the same positions noun phrases can!
dem Raumschiff der berühmten Pilotin → ihm
the spaceship of the famous pilot → it
If the genitive attribute is the name of a person or place, it will usually come before the noun instead of after it. Check out our post on the German genitive case to see the placement rules in detail.
In German, a prepositional phrase is composed of two parts: a and a noun phrase. We call the noun phrase that follows a preposition the object of the preposition.
preposition
noun phrase
object of the preposition
mit dem schnellen Raumschiff der berühmten Pilotin
with the fast spaceship of the famous pilot
A few German prepositions can sometimes follow the noun phrase, in which case they’re called postpositions instead. Check out our post on German postpositions to learn more about these exceptional uses.
When figuring out the position of a German In a totally neutral German sentence, the subject will come before the object, regardless of where the verb falls:
Der Astronaut kauft einen Raumanzug.
The astronaut buys a spacesuit.
Der Astronaut, der dieses Raumschiff fliegt, heißt Pirkheimer.
The astronaut who is flying this spaceship is called Pirkheimer.
In sentences that have two objects, a and an , then the subject comes before both objects, but you’ll also need to follow these rules:
If the direct object is a noun phrase, it comes after the indirect object:
Ich gebe der Pilotin eine Sternkarte.
I give the pilot a star chart.
Ich gebe ihr eine Sternkarte.
I give her a star chart.
If the direct object is a pronoun, then it comes before the indirect object.
Ich gebe direct object der Pilotin.
I give it to the pilot.
Ich gebe sie ihr.
I give it to the pilot.
However, as we saw above, any non-verbal element of a V2 clause can be relocated to act as the “first element” for emphasis. This means that sometimes a V2 clause will begin with the direct or indirect object. In these cases, the subject will still precede any remaining objects.
Diese Raumstation besuche ich jedes Jahr.
I visit this space station every year.
lit. This space station visit I every year.
Reflexive pronouns like sich(sich (himself/herself/itself)) must always be placed as close as possible to the subject of the clause—but without violating verb placement rules.
Er kann sich nicht an die Kollision erinnern, weil er sich am Kopf gestoßen hat.
He cannot remember the collision, because he hit his head.
In German, the position of is somewhat flexible, but there are some positions that sound more natural than others, and that position will depend on a number of factors. Here’s a very quick summary to get you started:
Adverbs and adverbials are words or phrases that describe non-nouns and often provide information about when, why, how, or where something happened.
Adverbs and adverbials of time (when), reason (why), and manner (how) sound most natural when they fall between the indirect object and the direct object.
Adverbs and adverbials of place (where) sound most natural after both objects.
For example:
Wir bringen dem Kapitän nachher wegen seinem Kopfweh ganz diskret einen Tee zu seinem Stuhl.
Later, we will quite discreetly bring the captain a cup of tea to his chair because of his headache.
lit. We bring the captain later because of his headache quite discreetly a cup of tea to his chair.
If an adverb or adverbial instead modifies another adverb or an adjective, it will come right before the word it modifies:
ganz diskret
quite discreetly
If you want to read all the details about the placement of German adverbs and adverbials, check out our post on the position of adverbs in German!
In German, nicht(not) is the most common word that is used to make a negative sentence. Here are the most important rules to remember about placing it correctly:
If negating a noun or prepositional phrase (e.g. I bought the spaceship, not the airplane), nicht goes before the phrase it modifies
Die Pilotin ist gestern nicht zur Venus geflogen, sondern zum Mars.
Yesterday, the pilot flew not to Venus, but to Mars.
If negating an entire (e.g. I did not go to the zoo), nicht goes broadly at the end, though it is usually still followed by non-finite verbs and separable prefixes.
There is another negative word, the negative indefinite article kein, which is used before nouns, a lot like you might use the word “no” in English sentences like “There is no cheese in the fridge.”
For a lot more examples and more detailed explanations of these rules, check out our post on German negation!
Here are the main rules to remember from this article:
Four main rules govern the placement of verbs:
In main clauses and content questions → the finite verb is the second element (V2)
In dependent clauses → the finite verb is at the end
In yes-no questions or commands → the finite verb comes first
Non-finite verbs like participles or infinitives come at the end of the clause
Noun phrases use this word order → article + adjective(s) + noun + genitive attribute
Prepositional phrases use this word order → preposition + noun phrase
Generally, the order of subjects and objects is → subject + indirect object + direct object...
…but if the direct object is a pronoun, use → subject + direct object + indirect object.
In this post we also gave you a quick introduction to the placement of adverbs and negation, but you might want to check out some of our other posts to learn the full rules.
Ready to practice? Check out these German word order exercises to test your skills! Happy learning!
