Wortstellung im Mittelfeld

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📘 Grammatik · Unit 23 · 1/16

Wortstellung im Mittelfeld

3 parts7 examples3 common mistakes

Example

  1. Ich fahre am Montag wegen eines Termins mit dem Zug nach Bern.On Monday I am taking the train to Bern because of an appointment.Te–Ka–Mo–Lo

Rule

Between the verb and the end of the sentence, the adverbials are arranged according to a fixed pattern: TeKaMoLo — temporal, causal, modal, local.

Practise

This topic’s own test: 10 sets, 10 questions in each.Grammatik-Test →

The TeKaMoLo order

Not every adverbial has to appear, but the order of those that are present stays the same. Anyone who follows it sounds more fluent at once.

KürzelFrageBeispiel
Te (temporal)wann?am Montag
Ka (kausal)warum?wegen des Termins
Mo (modal)wie?mit dem Zug
Lo (lokal)wohin/wo?nach Bern
  1. Ich fahre am Montag wegen eines Termins mit dem Zug nach Bern.On Monday I am taking the train to Bern because of an appointment.Te–Ka–Mo–Lo

Objects: dative before accusative

Two nouns: dative first. As soon as a pronoun is involved, it moves to the front — pronoun before noun, accusative pronoun before dative pronoun.

  1. Ich gebe dem Kollegen die Unterlagen.I give the documents to the colleague.
  2. Ich gebe ihm die Unterlagen.I give him the documents.
  3. Ich gebe sie dem Kollegen.I give them to the colleague.
  4. Ich gebe sie ihm.I give them to him.

Known before unknown

What is already known comes early; new information comes late. That is why pronouns move to the front and the most important information to the end.

  1. Ich habe dem Kollegen gestern eine E-Mail geschrieben.I wrote the colleague an e-mail yesterday.bekannt → unbekannt
  2. Nicht steht vor dem, was verneint wird.`nicht` stands before what is being negated.

Common mistakes

Ich fahre nach Bern am Montag. Ich fahre am Montag nach Bern.
The time expression comes before the place expression.
Ich gebe die Unterlagen ihm. Ich gebe sie ihm.
The pronoun stands before the noun; with two pronouns, accusative first.
Ich habe gestern nicht gearbeitet lange. Ich habe gestern nicht lange gearbeitet.
The participle stays at the end of the sentence.

Quick check · 3 questions

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