Verb second: the golden word-order rule
In a German statement, the verb is always the second idea.
The rule
In every normal statement, the conjugated verb sits in position two. Position one can be the subject, the time, the place, almost anything, but the verb never moves from spot two. If something else takes spot one, the subject slides behind the verb.
Ich trinke heute Kaffee.
I drink coffee today.
Heute trinke ich Kaffee.
Today I drink coffee. (verb still second!)
Morgen lernen wir Deutsch.
Tomorrow we learn German.
Check yourself
- Which is correct German word order?
- In a statement, the conjugated verb is always:
- If "Morgen" starts the sentence, what comes next?