Present 1 · 8a9f478eb7ee83c11e17cccaad664288
Word Order
In German statements, the verb belongs in the second position. This means it’s the second unit of the sentence, not the second word!
Das Mädchen sieht einen Hund.
The girl sees a dog.
Anna und Lukas brauchen eine Zeitung.
Anna and Lukas need a newspaper.
To help you remember that the verb goes second, make the letter V (for verb) with your fingers and you’ll see you’re also holding up the number two! As you continue learning German, you’ll see other parts of the sentence moving around, but the verb will stay put in position two!
What are you doing?
You may have noticed that some of the translations sound odd. In English, we often say things like I am running or She is reading to express what is happening in the moment. In German, that particular pattern doesn’t exist! You use the same simple I run or She reads sentence pattern. Take a look:
Der Mann liest.The man is reading.
Literal: The man reads.
Ich lerne Englisch. I am learning English.
Literal: I learn English.
Meet some modal verbs!
Wollen and mögen are two verbs in a special group called modal verbs. Modal verb endings have a slightly different pattern! Notice the vowel changes and the lack of endings:
| |
wollen, mögen to want, to like |
|---|---|
| ich I |
will, mag (no ending!) want, like |
| du you |
willst, magst want, like |
| er / sie / es he / she / it |
will, mag (no ending!) wants, likes |
| wir we |
wollen, mögen want, like |
| ihr you all |
wollt, mögt want, like |
| sie they |
wollen, mögen want, like |