If we go back to our example above, with Josh and his nearly deaf grandmother, it’s difficult to detect a specific point being emphasized. The point to be made about TeKaMoLo is that its use is predominantly for sentences where no special emphasis is made. You can use the program (or others like it) to hear German in use by native speakers, and see sentence structure, grammar and vocabulary naturally and in context. FluentU’s language learning program, for example, has gathered a collection of authentic media across a range of difficulty levels and topics of interest. Listening to German media can help you to internalize exactly how natives will put their words in order, and there’s no shortage of this on the internet. And once you know the rules, once you’ve obeyed them, you can pull a big old Picasso and break them. This way you don’t have to worry about two different orders, just the one.
#German grammar structure crack#
Instead of creating the sentence in your head in English first, take a crack at it in German directly. “Josh spoke yesterday out of consideration for his grandmother very loudly at the kitchen table” is ugly in English.īut as an intermediate German speaker, developing your conversational skills requires a change in thinking. Reformulating the order of a sentence before translating it takes time, especially when it feels as though the order would be clunky or illogical in English.
This is a primary clause-I’ll have a bit more to say on this in a moment, so don’t worry-so the first part of the verb has to stand in position 2 with the past participle at the end. Importantly, you need to pay close attention to where the two elements of the verb are. Josh hat gestern aus Rücksicht auf seine Oma sehr laut am Küchentisch gesprochen. Kausal (why) - out of consideration for his grandmotherĪnd now we’ve got it in order let’s translate it. Or, rather, in the right order for English, but the wrong order for German.Ģ. It contains each of the component parts of TeKaMoLo, but in the wrong order. “Josh spoke loudly at the kitchen table yesterday out of consideration for his grandmother.” (Whilst we’re explaining and describing things, it might be good to brush up on your adjective endings.)įirst, some examples. And whilst there are a few exceptions-which we’ll go through with rich scrutiny in a few lines-be reassured that these are largely dependent on your own intentions. (Hey, this Al Brothers thing has another level.) This will really help develop your confidence.įor any sentence you want to use to explain how something was done then this order is standard. For one thing it ensures you’re going to be understood.įor another it allows you to develop your sentences in length and complexity, instead of relying on being super basic all the time.Īnd knowing what you’re doing with word structure means knowing what you’re emphasizing, bringing a bit of rhythm to the way you speak. The importance of getting this word structure right can’t be understated. Or, as I have just noticed, the “Al Brothers,” which brings a nice musical family vibe to things.
Wo ist es passiert? (Where did it happen?) LOKAL.Wie ist es passiert? (How did it happen?) MODAL.Warum ist es passiert? (Why did it happen?) KAUSAL.Wann ist es passiert? (When did it happen?) TEMPORAL.By which I mean it governs in which order we answer the following questions: TeKaMoLo governs in which order the adverbial phrases fall in your sentences. It’s an important rule concerning word order if you want your German to look and sound correct.
#German grammar structure pdf#
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy.
#German grammar structure how to#
While articles like this great one on conjunctions, verbs and clauses deal with the more nerve-shredding technical aspects of German word order, we’re going to focus today on the content of what we want to say, and how to say it.īy the end of this post, you’ll be more comfortable with German sentence structure and turning your thoughts into coherent sentences. JTeKaMoLo: The When, How, Where and Why of German Sentence StructureĪs an intermediate speaker, you might find that anything other than the simplest of sentences requires some serious forethought.