German Grammar * Review & Exercises

CONJUNCTIONS

There are two types of conjunctions, coordinating and subordinating.

A. Coordinating Conjunctions

1. Coordinating conjunctions coordinate clauses of the same type (two or more main clauses or two or more dependent clauses).
2. denn, aber, sondern are normally preceded by a comma, and followed by subject and then the verb.
3. Other than that there is no special word-order rule; the basic rules apply.

The most common coordinating conjunctions are:

und oder denn aber sondern

and or for, because but but (instead)

Beispiele

1. Wir kommen nicht heute, sondern morgen.
2. Machst du das oder machst du das nicht?
3. Er hat mir gesagt, daß er Savannah besucht hat und dort zu River Street gegangen ist.
   This example shows the coordination of subordinate (dependent) clauses: und coordinates the two dependent clauses; the auxiliary verbs (hat, ist) are at the end of the respective clause. Both clauses are dependent on the main clause; daß applies to both.

B. Subordinating Conjunctions

1. Subordinating conjunctions introduce a subordinate (dependent) clause.
2. A dependent clause is one that requires an independent (main) clause to be fully understood.
3. The conjugated verb is at the end of the dependent clause.
4. A comma separates main and dependent clauses.
5. The dependent clause may be the first clause in a structure. (Word order rules are here).

The most common subordinating conjunctions are:

daß wenn weil sobald bis bevor nachdem als da seit/seitdem damit ob obwohl so daß solange während

that when because as soon as until before after when because, since [conditional] since [temporal] so that whether, if although so that, as a result as long as while, during

Beispiele

1. Ich warte, bis du zu mir kommst.
2. Sobald du hier bist, essen wir.
3. Rudi sprach, während der Professor etwas erklärte.
4. Andrea ist gekommen, obwohl sie krank war.

Notes

1. All question words (wer, wie, wo, was, wann, warum, etc., including wo-compounds) can function like subordinating conjunctions, introducing indirect questions.
   • Direct question: Wer ist das dort?
   • ==> Indirect question: Weißt du, wer das dort ist?
2. Sometimes, daß can be omitted. In this case, the finite verb does not move to the end.
   • Ich weiß, daß du das gemacht hast.
   • Ich weiß, du hast es gemacht.
3. In a dependent clause, the conjugated (finite) verb is at the end EXCEPT for one circumstance: when modal verbs are present in a "perfect" tense. You will not see this very often, but you should be able to identify this as correct construction.
   • Peter wußte, daß er zur Klasse hat kommen sollen.
     (Peter knew that you should have come to class [...was supposed to come to class]).
4. Sometimes, comparisons using als or wie are placed after the finite verb.
   
   • Sie dachte, daß sie nicht so schön ist wie ihre Schwester.
     OR: Sie dachte, daß sie nicht so schön wie ihre Schwester ist.
     (She thought [that] she is not as attractive as her sister.)
   • Aber sie wußte, daß sie intelligenter ist als sie.
     OR: Aber sie wußte, daß sie intelligenter als sie ist.
     (But she knew [that] she was smarter than her).

ÜBUNGEN

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