What is a Main Clause?
Main clauses are grammatically correct, full sentences that can stand alone.
Subordinate clauses can not stand alone because some important information is missing, without which the sentence can‘t be fully understood.
In German, sentence construction and verb order is very flexible.
However, not everything is possible and you must follow certain rules.
Verb Position
The word order in German is very flexible but the verb always has a specific position.
In the main clause it is normally in position 2:
| Position 2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Marcel | geht | heute zur Schule. |
| Heute | geht | Marcel zur Schule. |
However, in yes-no questions and commands the verb is in position 1:
| Position 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Geht | Marcel | heute zur Schule? |
| Geh | zur Schule!! |
For more information about the verb position with more then one verb in the sentence can be found in lecture: 10.02. Sentence Brackets.
Verb Position
The word order in German is very flexible but the verb always has a specific position.
In the main clause it is normally in position 2:
| Position 2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Marcel | geht | heute zur Schule. |
| Heute | geht | Marcel zur Schule. |
However, in yes-no questions and commands the verb is in position 1:
| Position 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Geht | Marcel | heute zur Schule? |
| Geh | zur Schule!! |
For more information about the verb position with more then one verb in the sentence can be found in lecture: Sentence Brackets.
What goes in Position 1?
In German, anything can go in position 1:
| Position 1 | Position 2 | Rest | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question Word | Was | machst | du? |
| Noun | Das Haus | ist | alt. |
| Pronoun | Er | trinkt | Kaffee. |
| Time Phrase | Heute | geht | er in die Schule. |
| Subordinate Clause | Wenn du kommst, | mache | ich Essen. |
| Adverbs | Deshalb | mag | ich Maria. |
* the subject is marked in green.
Position of the Subject?
The subject of a main clause should be as close to the conjugated verb as possible.
Unlike in English, it DOES NOT HAVE TO come before the verb.
The most important information is always placed in position 1 for emphasis. When that is not the subject, the subject goes after the verb.
Example:
A: „Wo ist mein Handy?“
(The question word is of course the most important word!)
B: „Auf den Bett liegt es doch!“
(Here, the answer is the most important phrase!)
Summary
- Main clauses are grammatically complete sentences.
- The verb is always in a specific position: in normal main clauses it is in position 2. For yes-no questions and commands it is in position 1.
- The most important information always goes in position 1.
- The subject can come after the verb.
Further Information
- The lecture Sentence Brackets explains the verb position when there is more than one verb in the sentence.
- Find out how to form a grammatically correct question in German in lecture Questions
- Main clauses can be connected with each other by Conjunctions and Conjunctional Adverbs.
- We can add Subordinate Clauses to a main clause.
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