Conjunctions and connector adverbs – 2. Different word order in German

Last Updated on October 10, 2023

We continue the topic of different word order in German in complex sentences and similar constructions. In the first part, we talked about the construction itself and the meanings of connection, opposition, and concessions.

Difference between beziehungsweise, respektive, entsprechend
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Schwer or schwierig

Alternative meaning

Alternative (or, instead of)
Alternativsatz

The meaning of the reason

Cause (because, in that, after all …)
Kausalsatz

Meaning of purpose

Purpose (so that)
Finalsatz

Meaning of consequence

Consequence (hence, ergo, therefore).
Konsekutivsatz

The words deshalb (daher, darum, deswegen) are classified in different ways in different sources (as cause or as consequence), but this does not in any way affect the word order, therefore it is irrelevant. I classified them as cause (see above)

Meaning of conditions

Condition (if, provided that, sobeit, otherweis).
Konditionalsatz

Temporal meaning

Time (while, when).

Temporalsatz

The meaning of the mode of action

Mode (how, without what, whence, source of information).
Modalsatz

Comparison meaning

Compatisions (how, as, than, as if, as though, like).
Komparativsatz

In sentences with je… desto, the first part is the subordinate clause.

In sentences with an unrealistic comparison (as if, as though – he ran so fast, as if the devils were chasing after him) there are two options with different word order.

one of them is the usual subordinate clause – als ob. Nothing special, except you need to use Konjunktiv 2.

second – with als. Both sentences are main, and als behaves like a connector adverbs, so the verb stands on the second position, the third is subject.

At the same time, als is not considered as a connector adverb in any source, so I put it in the first column. Maybe somewhere in the deep-sea world of German grammar this can be explained, but in I did not find an explanation.

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