German for Beginners
Der Tipp des Tages
German Learning Tip of the Day
Tipp Nr. 2 - Learning Tip 2
Tipp des Tages - Part of German for Beginners
Time, Manner, Place
In Learning Tip 1 we discussed German word order. A subset of that topic is the difference between how English and German position/order the elements of time, manner and place. In English you would normally say: "He's traveling to Vienna by train tomorrow." The elements of "place" (to Vienna), "manner" (by train), and "time" (tomorrow) fall in that order in English. But how would we say that in German?
Wann, wie, wo/wohin - Another way to express time, manner, place is to use the German question words (interrogatives) for when, how, where. If you memorize the German phrase wann, wie, wo, it can help you remember the order that German uses for those elements. The German for the English sentence above is: Er fährt morgen mit dem Zug nach Wien. (time, manner, place). Unlike English, German places the time element (morgen) first, followed by "manner" (mit dem Zug), and "place" (nach Wien) last. In English we expect to hear the place element first ("He's traveling to Vienna..."), followed by the time (tomorrow) and then the manner (by train). If any element is missing, the order remains the same: "He's traveling to Vienna tomorrow." (Er fährt morgen nach Wien.) - English-speakers learning German must learn this difference and avoid forcing German into English word order. For more about this, see the "Time, Manner, Place" section of Word Order in German.
MORE > Word Order in German - Part 1
MORE > Grammar Glossary - German grammar terms explained in plain English
MORE > Index: Tipps - All the daily tips
MORE > Lerntipps - General Learning Tips
BACK > Daily German Word for Beginners
MORE > English-German Glossaries
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