The four basic sentence structures in German

1. The four basic sentence structures in German By Martin L. Loeffler

2. Basic Sentence • The basic sentence has a subject and a verb. • The subject and verb need to be together. • The subject and verb need to agree. (You need to conjugate every sentence) • It most likely will have additional things like adjectives or phrases

3. Examples • Ichspiele die Gitarre. • Subject and verb are together. • ErbesuchtFreunde. • Subject and verb are conjugated. • Du hörstgernMusiknach der Schule. The rest of the stuff.

5. Practice • Du spiel_____ Musik. • Du spielst_Musik. • _____ bin gut. • _Ich_ bin gut. • Ihrmach_______ Hausaufgabengern. • Ihrmacht_Hausaufgabengern. • _______ kommenaus Texas. • Wir/Siekommenaus Texas.

6. How do we make a question? • Switch the subject and verb. • Nothing else changes. • Subject and verb are still conjugated. • The English “are and do” do not exist. (Are you walking to school?) German equivalent (Walk you to school?) It does not make any sense in English but it is good German.

7. Examples • Spieleich die Gitarre? • Subject and verb are still together but switched.. • BesuchterFreunde? • Subject and verb are still conjugated. • Hörst du gernMusiknach der Schule? The rest of the stuff is still there.

8. Practice • IchsucheeinenTennisball. • SucheicheinenTennisball? • Du bist intelligent. • Bist du intelligent? • Wirfindendichhäßlich. • Findenwirdichhäßlich? • Du liebstmichnicht. • Liebst du michnicht?

10. Key Questions • They are made by using “Who, What, Where, When, How” • The Key Word or W-Word goes at the front of the question. • Nothing else from the question sentence changes.

11. Key Question Wordsor W - Words • Wer • Wo • Was • Wie • Woher • Wann • Warum • Was für • Who • Where • What • How • From where • When • Why • What type

12. Examples • Wieheisst du? • Subject and verb are switched. • Woherkommst du? • Wiefindest du den Jungen? • We only added the W-word/key word to the front of a question. • Was machst du?

13. Practice • _______ alt bist du? • Wie • _______ kommst du? • Woher • _______ bist du? • Wo • _______ spielst du? • Was, Wo, Wann, Warum

14. Dialect joke

15. Verb in the second place or something at the beginning. • If I add a phrase or time or something at the beginning of the sentence, I then have a statement instead of a question. • We replace the W-word/Key word. • The subject and verb are still switched. • They are still conjugated.

16. For instance • Ichspiele Golf • Golf The subject and verb are switched. It still is a statement. There is no comma so no new sentence is started. heute spieleich Heute

17. For instance heute. • Wospieleich Golf • spieleich Golf. The subject and verb are still switched. It changed from a question to a statement. There is no comma so no new sentence is started. Nothing changed in the rest of the sentence. Heute

18. Examples • Nach der SchuletanzeichmitFreunden. • Um 10 Minutennach 1 besucheichFreunde. • ImSommerspieleichgern. • Am WochenendehabeichMusik.

19. Conclusion • Regular Sentence. Du machstnichtsnach der Schule. • Question Sentence. Machst du nichtsnach der Schule? • Key Word Question Wannmachstdu nichtsnach der Schule? • Time/Something/Verb in second place Nach der Schulemachst du nichts.