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 FSI Language Courses Forum : Learning Languages : German
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eng_dolly
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Quote eng_dolly Replybullet Topic: order of words in the sentence in german
    Posted: 11 October 2008 at 5:25am
hi there
i need someone to help me in understanding the arrangment of the words in the sentence when translating from english to german.
example:
Now he is in Bonn
when i translate it i said:
er is jetzt in Bonn
But i found it in FSI course as:
Jetzt ist er in Bonn
so why when he says Jetzt at the begining of the sentence he proceeds the verb over the subject? it is not a question, in questions the verb comes before the subject as i studied.
so please any one explain this to me?
thanks alot


Edited by eng_dolly - 11 October 2008 at 5:32am
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daristani
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Quote daristani Replybullet Posted: 11 October 2008 at 7:41am
In normal German sentences like this, the verb is the second element in the sentence.  If you start with "er", you say "Er ist jetzt in Bonn", similar to the English sentence "He's in Bonn now".  But if you want to emphasize the idea of "now" by starting the sentence with it, like "Now he's in Bonn" in English, the German sentence is "Jetzt ist er in Bonn".

So your sentence was perfectly correct; it's just that the emphasis was a bit less on "now" than in the version in the course.

The FSI course does explain a good deal of the grammar, but it would probably be a good idea to use a small German grammar book as well, or to refer to German grammar materials on the internet.  
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eng_dolly
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Quote eng_dolly Replybullet Posted: 11 October 2008 at 8:27am
thanks alot daristani for your kindly reply. and about grammar material for german on the internet do you recommend me any sites you use it before and find it useful, if possible. if not it is ok.
thanks again for your detailed answer.really it makes different with me because i was confused about this point.
bye
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daristani
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Quote daristani Replybullet Posted: 11 October 2008 at 11:39am
Hi,

I don't know which websites might be most useful to you, but here's one that explains German grammar in English and also has a forum in which you can ask questions: http://www.deutschseite.de/index.html.

But if you search Google for "German grammar", you can find lots of sites with various explanations, as well as exercises.  The Wikipedia article on German grammar also explains things very succinctly:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_grammar

You could also look at the Wikibook German Grammar:  http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/German/Grammar

Good luck!
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eng_dolly
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Quote eng_dolly Replybullet Posted: 12 October 2008 at 5:32pm
Hi,

thanks for the links and for your advice so much.
really your help is useful

thanks
bye
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