Unit 6: Conjunctions, Comparatives
1. Conjunctions
Conjunctions are those words that connect other words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. English examples include: “and,” “but,” “because,” and “although.”
These words fall into two categories: coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. In German, these two categories are important to be aware of because of their differing effect on sentence word order.
Coordinating Conjunctions
These conjunctions do not alter the word order of a sentence. The most common German coordinating conjunctions are:
| aber | but, however |
| denn | for / because |
| entweder . . . oder | either . . . or |
| oder | or |
| sondern | but rather (used after a negative) |
| sowohl . . . als | as well as |
| und | and |
| weder . . . noch | neither . . . nor |
Examples of their use:
Er lernt fleißig, denn er findet Deutsch schwer.
He studies hard because he finds German difficult.
Sie geht in den Laden und kauft ein neues Fahrrad.
She goes into the shop and buys a new bicycle.
Wir gehen nicht ins Kino, sondern in die Bibliothek.
We are not going to the cinema but (rather) to the library.
Entweder wir fahren mit dem Bus, oder wir gehen zu Fuß.
Either we take the bus, or we walk.
You can use the “verb in second position” rule from Unit 1 to help you identify the core elements of subject, verb, and object in these sentences. For example, if, after a coordinating conjunction, the first word is a conjugated verb, then you know the missing “first position” element must be implied (carried over) from the preceding clause.
Subordinating Conjunctions
These conjunctions do affect the sentence word order. The verb in a subordinate clause stands in final position within that clause. Note the locations of the verb waren and its subject ihre Eltern in this example, using the conjunction als (when / while):
Sie wohnte in Berlin, als ihre Eltern noch Studenten waren.
She lived in Berlin while her parents were still students.
When a subordinate clause is first in a sentence, then the finite verb of the main clause immediately follows the subordinate clause. Note the locations of the verb wohnte and its subject sie (its second occurrence in this sentence) in the next example, which simply follows the basic rule that the main verb of a German statement always comes in second position.
Als sie jung war, wohnte sie in Berlin.
When she was young she lived in Berlin.
A subordinate clause is also called a dependent clause because it does not make sense by itself. In German all dependent clauses are separated from main clauses by commas and the verb or verbs of the dependent clause stand at the end of that clause. This is an important punctuation practice worth remembering since it will enable you to tackle longer sentences by recognizing smaller units of meaning to understand and translate.
The most common German subordinating conjunctions are:
| als | when (referring to past events)
Als er in Deutschland war, sah er seinen Bruder. Caution: this word also has uses as an adverb, in which case it behaves like a normal adverb:
|
| als ob | as if (see Unit 15 for examples) |
| bis | until
Bis es regnet, bleibt es trocken. |
| da | since (because)
Ich gehe nicht ins Kino, da ich kein Geld habe. Caution: This word can also be used as an adverb (“there”) and is used in da-compounds where it means “it” (see Unit 12). Those uses appear with standard word order. |
| damit | so that
Damit Sie das Examen bestehen, sollen Sie fleißig studieren. Caution: Not to be confused with the da-compound meaning “with it” (see above). |
| dass / daß | that
Die Kinder wußten sehr wohl, daß Feuer gefährlich ist. Note that the older German spelling of dass is daß, which you will see in texts dating before the late 1990s. Like English, German sometimes omits this very common conjunction. You can tell this has happened because then the word order of the subordinate clause appears in normal German statement order. And more helpfully than in English, such sentences in German will always use a comma to signal where one clause ends and the next one begins. For example: Ich glaube, ich kriege ein Fahrrad zum Geburtstag! Just for illustration, this is how the same sentence would look if the speaker bothered to use the daß conjunction: Ich glaube, daß ich ein Fahrrad zum Geburtstag kriege! |
| bevor | before
Bevor es regnete, sahen wir Wolken. |
| nachdem | after
Erst nachdem der Schnee schmilzt, sieht man Tulpen. |
| ob | whether / if (only used for true/false possibilities)
Wir wissen nicht, ob er kommt. |
| obwohl / obgleich |
although
Obwohl zwei fertig waren, blieben noch drei in Arbeit. |
| seitdem | since (the time when) / ever since
Seitdem sie heirateten, reisen sie jedes Jahr nach Mallorca. |
| sobald | as soon as
Wir fliegen, sobald das Unwetter vorbei ist. |
| solange | as long as
Solange es so stark regnet, starten wir nicht. |
| während | while / whereas
Während er auf der Universität studierte, lernte er seine Frau kennen. Caution: Not to be confused with its use as a preposition meaning “during,” with normal prepositional word order. |
| weil | because
Ich trinke nachmittags Kaffee, weil ich dann schläfrig bin. |
| wenn | when(ever) / if (used to set a condition)
Wenn es regnet, fährt sie mit dem Bus, nicht mit dem Fahrrad. |
