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German Articles

How does German word order work?

By: Ulrike Carlson Thu Jun 05 2025
German
Sentence Structure

In the simplest German sentences, the word order looks a lot like English word order: subject (do-er), verb (action word), object (undergoer).

subjectverbobject

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.

time description 1verbsubjecttime description 2time description 3

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!

Table of Contents

    Where to put the verb in German sentences?

    In German, verbs 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!

    Tip

    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:

    • One clause:

      I found the cat.

    • Two clauses:

      I found the cat … that had been lost.

    • Three clauses:

      I asked … who found the cat … that had been lost.

    What is a V2 clause in German?

    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 main clause of a statement or a content question.

    first "element"verb

    Der Astronaut kauft einen Raumanzug.

    The astronaut buys a spacesuit.

    → the first element is the subject

    Warum ist das Raumschiff kaputt?

    Why is the spaceship broken?

    → the first element is the question word

    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 adverb or adverbial:

      → e.g. “tomorrow,” “pretty soon,” “every three weeks”

    • a noun or noun phrase:

      → e.g. “John,” “a house,” “this yellow house,” “Mrs. Murray’s house”

    • a prepositional phrase:

      → 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 object, an adverbial, a prepositional phrase, or even a modal particle. For example:

    first elementverbsubject

    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.

    Did you notice?
    Regardless of which element comes in first position the verb is always second, even if that means it comes before the subject. This is a major difference from English!
    Important

    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.”

    zero positionfirst elementverb

    Er sollte gestern ankommen, aber er ist in einen Meteoritenschauer geraten.

    He was supposed to arrive yesterday, but he got into a meteorite shower.

    What is a verb-final clause in German?

    In a German verb-final clause, the conjugated verb stands at the end. All German verb final clauses are dependent clauses — 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:

      verb

      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:

      verb

      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:

      verb

      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.

    Important

    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:

    first element (dependent clause)main verb

    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.

    → Notice that this results in a “collision of finite verbs” — one at the end of the dependent clause, the other at the start of the main clause!

    What is a verb-initial clause in German?

    Verb-initial clauses are called that because they start with the conjugated verb. In German, we use this type of clause for yes/no-questions and imperative clauses.

    • Yes/no-question:

      verbsubject

      Fliegst du jedes Jahr zum Saturn?

      Do you fly to Saturn every year?

      lit. Fly you to Saturn every year?

    • Imperative clause:

      verb

      Flieg mit mir zum Saturn!

      Fly to Saturn with me!

    What to do if a clause has more than one verb?

    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 compound tense (e.g. “have gone”), a modal verb (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:

      conjugated verb (auxiliary)non-fininte verb (past participle)

      Ich bin gestern auf Erdumlaufbahn gegangen.

      I have gone into Earth’s orbit yesterday.

    • V2 clause with modal verb and infinitive:

      conjugated verb (auxiliary)non-fininte verb (past participle)

      Ich muss Treibstoff kaufen.

      I have to buy fuel.

    Important

    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:

    conjugated verbseparable prefix

    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:

    conjugated verbnon-finite verb (past participle)

    Die Solarbatterie ist erst gestern aufgeladen worden.

    The solar battery was charged only yesterday.

    → This is the perfect tense (haben/sein + past participle) of a passive verb (werden + past participle)
    Tip

    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:

    Verb-initial clause (question):
    conjugated verbnon-finite verb

    Werden wir morgen um diese Zeit schon auf dem Neptun gelandet sein?

    Will we already have landed on Neptune tomorrow at this time?

    → This is the future perfect tense (werden + haben/sein + past participle)

    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).

    Verb-final clause (subordinate clause):
    conjugated verbnon-finite verb

    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.

    Summary: Types of German clauses

    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),
    content questions

    Verb-final Clause

    the verb goes at the end

    dependent clauses

    Verb-initial Clause

    the verb starts the clause

    yes/no questions,
    commands

    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.

    How to form a noun phrase in German?

    In German, a noun phrase is composed of a noun and the words that modify it. The elements of a noun phrase go in this order:

    article

    adjective(s)

    noun

    genitive attribute
    noun phrase in the genitive case

    dem schnellen Raumschiff der berühmten Pilotin

    the fast spaceship of the famous pilot

    The grammatical case 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 pronoun, so pronouns can go in all the same positions noun phrases can!

    noun phrasepronoun

    dem Raumschiff der berühmten Pilotin → ihm

    the spaceship of the famous pilot → it

    Exception!

    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.

    How to form a prepositional phrase in German?

    In German, a prepositional phrase is composed of two parts: a preposition 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

    Careful!
    Remember that in German, the preposition you use will determine the case of the following noun phrase!
    Tip

    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.

    Where to put the subject, direct object, and indirect object in German sentences?

    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:

    subjectverbdirect object

    Der Astronaut kauft einen Raumanzug.

    The astronaut buys a spacesuit.

    → a verb-second clause!

    Der Astronaut, der dieses Raumschiff fliegt, heißt Pirkheimer.

    The astronaut who is flying this spaceship is called Pirkheimer.

    → a verb-final clause!

    In sentences that have two objects, a direct object and an indirect object, 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:

      subjectindirect objectdirect 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.

      subjectdirect objectindirect 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.

      direct objectverbsubject

      Diese Raumstation besuche ich jedes Jahr.

      I visit this space station every year.

      lit. This space station visit I every year.

    Important

    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.

    subjectconjugated verbreflexive pronounnon-finite verb

    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.

    → The first clause is a V2 clause, the second is a verb-final clause. Given those rules, the subject and reflexive pronoun are as close as you can manage!

    Where to put adverbs in German sentences?

    In German, the position of adverbsis 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:

    indirect objectadverb of timeadverbial of reasonadverbial of mannerdirect objectadverbial of place

    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:

    modifying adverb

    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!

    Where to put ‘nicht’ in a German sentence?

    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 clause (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.

    Tip

    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!

    Summary

    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.

      Also remember that objects can be used as the first element of a V2 clause for emphasis!

    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!

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