German Sentence Structure (Satzbau)

Think of a German sentence as a shelf: Position 1 + verb (Position 2) + middle field + end. Position 1 is usually the subject, but it can also be a time ('Heute'), a place ('In Berlin') or an object. If you put something other than the subject at the beginning, the verb still stays in second place and the subject moves behind the verb: 'Ich lerne heute Deutsch.' → 'Heute lerne ich Deutsch.' This is called inversion (Inversion), and the most common learner mistake is to say 'Heute ich lerne', as you would in English.

Note: 'second place' does not mean the second word but the second part of the sentence. 'Am Wochenende' is three words but one part; that is why 'Am Wochenende fahre ich nach Berlin.' is correct.

The sentence bracket (Satzklammer): if the verb has two parts, the conjugated part stays in second place and the second part goes to the very end of the sentence. At A1 you see this in three places: modal verbs ('Ich kann gut Deutsch sprechen.'), separable verbs ('Ich stehe um 7 Uhr auf.') and the Perfekt ('Ich habe gestern Pizza gegessen.'). Everything in between stays inside the bracket.

Questions: in W-questions the question word comes first and the verb second ('Wo wohnst du?'). In yes/no questions the verb moves to the very beginning ('Wohnst du in Berlin?'). German needs no helper verb like English 'do'.

Two practical rules for the middle field: time comes before place ('Ich fahre morgen nach Berlin.', not 'nach Berlin morgen'); 'nicht' usually goes to the end of the sentence or directly before the part it negates ('Ich komme heute nicht.', 'Ich wohne nicht in Berlin.').