Basic Sentence Structure
In German, the simplest sentence structure follows the pattern:
Example:
Example: Ich (I) lerne (learn) Deutsch (German).
Word Order
The verb always takes the second position in a sentence, even if the sentence begins with another element like a time phrase.
Example of Word Order:
Time Phrase
→
Verb
→
Subject
→
Object
Example: Heute (Today) lerne (learn) ich (I) Deutsch (German).
Forming Questions
To ask a question, you swap the subject and the verb's position.
Example of Questions:
Example: Lernst (Are learning) du (you) Deutsch (German)?
Negating Sentences
To negate a sentence in German, you add "nicht" (not) or "kein" (no/none) in appropriate positions.
Example of Negation:
Subject
→
Verb
→
nicht / kein
→
Object
Example: Ich (I) lerne (learn) nicht (not) Deutsch (German).