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German Word Order: The Verb-Second Rule Explained

der Satz

Before this lesson: make sure you've covered Irregular Verbs first.

The single most important German word-order rule: the conjugated verb always comes in position 2 of a main sentence (der Satz) — no matter what comes first.

Examples

German	English
Ich lerne heute Deutsch.	I am learning German today.
Heute lerne ich Deutsch.	Today I am learning German (verb stays 2nd!).
In Berlin wohnt meine Schwester.	My sister lives in Berlin.

Memory trick: Whatever you put first for emphasis, the verb stays the 2nd element — the subject simply jumps after it instead.

🎯 Quick check

In "Heute lerne ich Deutsch," why does "lerne" come before "ich"?

German Word Order: The Verb-Second Rule Explained

Examples

🎯 Quick check

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