Writing is an important skill in communication which you should practice from the very beginning when learning another language. Therefore, do not wait until you feel confident to start writing, but instead practice from the beginning. Sprechen, Hören, Lesen and Schreiben should be practiced together for a more complete and thorough learning. Don’t forget that these skills are always tested together in certificate examinations, i.e. they are all equally important both for everyday language experience and for proficiency tests.
An important issue when starting to learn German is the position of the verb in the sentence. Let’s start with simple affirmative sentences, i.e. Aussagen.
die Aussage (f) / die Aussagen (pl.)
- Ich heiße Ana.
| Position I | Position II (Verb) | |
| Ich | heiße | Ana. |
In affirmative sentences, as opposed to asking or denying something, I simply say that something is what it is. In these cases, the verb always comes in the second position of the sentence.
2) Er kocht heute.
| Position I | Position II (Verb) | |
| Er | kocht | heute. |
Thus, the subject can be either in the first position (look at what occupies the first position in the two examples above) or also directly after the verb. Notice:
3) Heute arbeitet sie.
| Position I | Position II (Verb) | |
| Heute | arbeitet | sie. |
The combination below would be equally correct:
4) Sie arbeitet heute.
| Position I | Position II (Verb) | |
| Sie | arbeitet | heute. |
Attention: In the last example, the pronoun sie (she) is capitalized because it is at the beginning of a sentence, ok?
It is common to put information to which we would like to draw attention in the first position.
When I say:
Heute arbeitet sie.
It may be that the intention is to show that she works (sie arbeitet) today (heute) and not tomorrow (morgen).
5) Ich komme mit.
| Position I | Position II (Verb) | |
| Ich | komme | mit. |
Separable verbs (trennbare Verben) behave as follows: the main part of the verb is in the second position as you can see above, and the prefix mit is at the end of the sentence.
Now that you know where the verb should be in affirmative sentences or Aussagen, let’s see where the verb should be in questions without W-Fragen, i.e. without words like wie, wer, woher, wann, wo, wohin, etc.
6) Arbeitet sie heute?
| Position I (Verb) | Position II | |
| Arbeitet | sie | heute? |
Similar to English, verbs should be in the first position in questions. This makes it possible to distinguish an affirmative sentence from a question. Therefore, the reader already knows that what he is reading is a question right at the beginning, by identifying the verb.
Examples:
7) Heißt er Jan?
| Position I (Verb) | Position II | |
| Heißt | er | Jan? |
8) Kommst du mit?
| Position I (Verb) | Position II | |
| Kommst | du | mit? |
It is important to note that separable verbs (trennbare Verben) are also separated in the question. The verb is then in the first position and the prefix at the end.
Questions without W-Fragen are also called Ja/Nein-Fragen, that is, “yes/no questions”. In this type of question the subject is directly after the verb and the answer is usually yes or no. Notice:
9) Kommt sie heute?
Ja.
The complete answer could be: “Ja, sie kommt heute”. But a simple “ja” is enough. Another example.
10) Arbeitest du?
Nein.
ODER
Nein, ich arbeite nicht.
A simple way to visualize the position of verbs in sentences is to read the texts in your book, mark the verb and identify whether it is an affirmation (Aussage) or a question (Frage).
Also practice writing by writing a short text about what you do at the weekend. Underline the verbs. At the end, use the verbs you wrote down to create Ja/Nein-Fragen.
I hope this has helped you 🙂 Please share with me if you have any doubts and feel free to send me questions and comments.
I wish you a fulfilling and happy learning experience!
Viele liebe Grüße,
Chris
P.S: Dúvidas sobre a língua alemã ou sobre como pode aprender de forma mais eficiente? Siga-me no @christegethoff e receba dicas!