Although we speak of "word order", what is involved is often the various elements of a sentence rather than individual words and their sequence in a sentence.

1. Word order in statements

The conjugated verb is always the second element (although not necessarily the second word) in a statement, e.g.

The subject is not always the first element of a statement. It is also very common to start with another element such as an expression of time or place to emphasize this element.

This element is not separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.

The position of the conjugated verb, however, remains the same. It is always the second element. Whenever an element other than the subject begins the statement, the subject follows the conjugated verb as the third element, e.g.

 

1st element	2nd element conjugated verb	3rd element subject
Am Freitag	fährt	meine Schwester	nach Berlin.	My sister is going to Berlin on Friday.
Nach Berlin	fährt	meine Schwester	am Freitag.	My sister is going to Berlin on Friday.

If there is an expression of time (when?) and an expression of place (where?/where ....to?/where ..... from?) in a sentence and neither of them is the first element, the expression of time comes before the expression of place, e.g.

 

subject	2nd element conjugated verb	expression of time	expression of place
Sie	fährt	am Freitag	nach Berlin.	She is going to Berlin on Friday.

If there are two expressions of time in a sentence and neither of them is the first element, the general time precedes the specific time, e.g.

If the verb consists of more than one component, it is split: the conjugated part remains the second idea while the rest of the verb (e.g. an infinitive) is at the end of the sentence, e.g.

2. Conjunctions and word order

3. Word order in questions

There are two types of questions:

a. yes/no-questions which can be answered by a simple “yes” or “no”

b. questions that start with question words (where, when, who, how many etc.)

a. yes/no-questions

In a yes/no-question, the conjugated verb (= the verb that has its ending changed in such a way that it corresponds with the subject) is always the first element of the question, it is followed by the subject (= who or what performs the action in the sentence) e.g.

b. questions with question words

In these type of questions, the question word(s) is (are) placed before the conjugated verb, e.g.

*In this question, you want to find out what the subject is.

4. Word order in imperatives

In an imperative statement, the conjugated verb comes first, e.g.

• formal: Tragen Sie eine Maske! (Wear a mask!)