If you study German you might have learned and noticed that the verb position in German sentences is super important. However, you might have also noticed that there seem to be many different spots where you can find verbs in a German sentence, which is highly confusing. All of that has to do with the infamous "Verb Sandwich."
Therefore, we want to shed some light on German sentences in celebration of the launch of our German Sentence Structure class this week.
First off you might wonder what a sandwich has to do with a German sentence. It is very "simple:" German organizes its sentences like a sandwich (after all we are the bread nation,) with verbs being the bread and everything else being the fillings.
Therefore, a verb's place is in the second position of a sentence NO MATTER WHAT. You must resist the urge to have your subject precede the verb!
In a German sentence, a subject might precede the verb IF (and only if) it is in the first position. If it isn't in the first position the verb still has to be placed in the second position.
Now, what happens if you have more than one verb, for example, a modal verb and a "main" verb: can come? In that case, the auxiliary (i.e. helping verb) has to be placed in the second position and the 2nd verb - the "main" verb is placed at the end of the sentence. That is how you get a verb sandwich:
Present tense:
Leider kann ich heute Abend nicht zu dir kommen.
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Unfortunately, I cannot come to you tonight.
You can see how English differs. In English, the subject "I" has to come before the verb(s) "cannot come" and the verbs are placed together and not separated.
The verb sandwich is a construction we use no matter the tense or the number of verbs we use.
Past tense:
Leider habe ich heute Abend nicht zu dir kommen können.
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Unfortunately, I couldn't come to you tonight.
The verb sandwich is one of German's main features that everyone has to master to be able to achieve fluency. But don't worry. With a little bit of practice, it can become second nature.
Of course, the verb sandwich is not the only stumbling block. If you want to create the perfect German sentence you also have to know:
Time before place
Adverbs never go at the end (with the exception: they do if the sentence is so short that there is no other place to put them
clauses are separated by a comma
"und/oder" no comma, all other conjunctions comma
to name a few.
If you want to learn everything there is to know to create the perfect German sentence, check out our new class! There we will teach you everything you need to know about German sentences.
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