German word order and placement?

Question

Hi! I am currently learning German and have some questions about the word order. Well, pretty much, is there a set patter for the order of words? I have this book and sometimes sentences will start with an adverb, though other times they wont. I know the verb is like always second, and if there is a dependent clause I know about the special order with that. But I don't know where to put things like adverbs, pronouns and nichts in the sentence. Please help, just give some examples maybe? Thanks!

Answer 1

Unfortunately for you, Dra E is right. It's what's most important to you that gets the special emphasis in the sentence. I know its difficult, but hang in there. I gather you do already, but read German books. Not the old stuff (Goethe or something), but some temporary literature. Or maybe just your favorite book, translated to German. That helped me learn English, though I mostly did that to learn new words and how to use them in context.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Hier wurde ihm geholfen.

Ihm wurde hier geholfen.

Geholfen wurde ihm hier.

In meinem Geschenk war nichts drin.

Nichts war in meinem Geschenk drin.

Drin war nichts in meinem Geschenk.

Das ist meins.

Meins ist das.

Diese Frau ist schön.

Schön ist diese Frau.

All are correct.

It depends on which is most important which you choose.

There is no general forcing static must follow word order in the german language

Answer 3

im gonna star this b/c i have trouble with it too, and im in level 3.

but if no one awnsers this, but it in the german yahoo awnsers section down at the bottom of the screen.