The structure of a basic statement is quite simple.
Subject – Verb (conjugated) – Infinitive or Object
Example:
Ich esse den Apfel – I eat the apple.
Der König lässt eine Burg bauen – The King has a castle built (The King – allows – a castle to be built)
Here is the order in which each component of a sentence should be put together:
Wem (to/for whom – dative object) Wann (when – time) Warum (why – manner) Wie (how – manner) Wo (where – place) Wen (whom – accusative object) Wohin/Woher (to/from where)
To make that simpler, cut a few corners and make it a bit easier to digest:
Who – When -Whom or What – Where
“Wir gehen am Freitag miteinander ins Kino.” – Literally, We go on Friday together to the movies.
Hint: It often helps if you pretend to be a pirate: “In der Küche sind die Fenster groß” – In the kitchen be the windows large!… Ar har!
June 14th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
The article is usefull for me. I’ll be coming back to your blog.
April 29th, 2010 at 1:13 am
Hello, I have found your blog to be one of the most useful sites in helping me master this unforgivably stupid language. It seems that you have had the same questions/problems as me and I am definitely bookmarking it! Thank you so much. I am starting to feel like its actually possible to learn this now.
April 29th, 2010 at 9:47 am
You’ve inspired me to get a move on and start working on my German again. Thanks Courtney