There are quite a few ways in which word order changes in German. You don't say 'go along the street' but gehen Sie die Straße entlang. There are lots of words that you can guess in German. As we have seen, there are lots of perfect or near cognates. So we have to have something that makes German a bit more difficult to learn. However it is a very logical language. Pronunciation doesn’t change from word to word like it does in English, and once you are used to the word order differences there are consistent rules.
Take for example the modal verbs. They are really useful verbs like ‘to be able’ and ‘to have to’. These verbs are always followed by an infinitive and they send this ‘dependent’ infinitive to the end of the sentence. Die Mörders können gut singen, or ich muß nach Hause gehen.
Bis bald
About Me
- Michael Gradwell
- I enjoy languages and music and for many years I played folk and classical guitar. I still do, but in recent years the ukulele has been the instrument that I have played the most. I now have an eight-string and a four-string tenor, a concert, a soprano and even a tiny piccolo ukulele. I have many other interests, including a lifelong interest in politics, and because of this I have several blogs, including politics for novices. If you came to this page from one of my blogs and don't know about the others, you may like to check them out. Please feel free to comment on any of the blogs - let me know what you think!
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