Exercise: German sentence structure

Now, you can introduce yourself.

Now let's take a first look at German grammar. But don't worry, we'll take it step by step. In this unit, we'll study the German sentence structure. Listen to these sentences:

Der Bahnhof ist da hinten. → The station is back there.

Ich bin Philip. → I'm Philip.

These sentences are statements. In such sentences, we put the verb in second position just as we do in English.

Let's look at an example.

"Ich bin Philip." "Ich" is in first position. It means "I".

"Bin" means "am", a form of the verb "to be". In the sentence "Ich bin Philip" 'bin' is in second position after "ich". The same is true for "ist" → "is" - in "Der Bahnhof ist da hinten." Here, "ist" follows "der Bahnhof" → the station.

Now listen to this sentence: "Trinken wir einen Kaffee?" Shall we drink a cup of coffee? This is a question. The verb is "trinken"- to drink. It is put right in the beginning of the question: "Trinken wir einen Kaffee?"

However, questions can also begin with a question word. Remember this question from Philip's German class: "Woher kommst du?" → Where do you come from? "Woher" is a question word. It means "where from". In this question "woher" is put in the beginning. It is followed by the verb and the German word for "you" - du comes at the end: "Woher komm st du?"