German Syntax Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

German Syntax - Essay Example 2.0 Word Order2.0 Word Order German is considered an SVO language (Fagan 146), which means that the underlying word order is Subject-Verb-Object in a phrase. 1)    Seine       Mutter      trinkt Whisky.              Ã‚     [subj-his mother]       [verb-drink]   [obj-whisky]           His mother drinks whisky.    (Collins 175)Sentence 1 demonstrates the most common word order in German; it is a declarative sentence and has only one main clause (Weyerts et al. 216). So the verb is in second position in a sentence that is complete and can stand alone; in other words in an independent clause. Weyerts et al. claim that â€Å"it is always a finite verb or auxiliary that appears in second position, and it only appears there in main clauses† (216).Double clause sentences are constructed in a similar way. If two independent or main clauses are joined with a conjunction, the word order remains as SVO in both clauses. Sentence 2 is an example of two independent clauses joined with a conjunction.   2)    Wir                   wollten                     ins       Kino,                        aber          wir                hatten  [subj-we] [verb-wanted] [indir. obj- to cinema] [conj-but] [subj-we] [verb-had]  kein      Geld[direct obj-no money]