VIDEO: Composition of sentences and sentence series simply explained
The sentence structure and the sentence series are possibilities of how individual sentences can be connected to one another. It is important to know the difference between main and subordinate clauses.
Differences between main and subordinate clauses
- A main sentence is a complete German sentence that can stand on its own. It must consist of at least one subject and one predicate, and usually an object must also be included.
- The subordinate clause cannot stand on its own; it is assigned to and subordinated to a main clause. It is separated optically from the main clause by one or more commas.
Characteristics of a sentence structure and a sentence series
- The difference between a sentence structure and a sentence series lies in the structural arrangement of these types of sentences.
- A sentence series consists of main clauses lined up in a row. The following sentence is an example of a sentence series consisting of two main clauses, which are separated by the connective word "and": "I play soccer and you play handball. "Both parts of the sentence are complete main clauses, as there is a subject (" I "and" you "), a verb (" play " respectively. "play") and an object ("soccer", "handball") is present.
- A sentence structure consists of at least one main clause and one subordinate clause. The main clause could stand on its own, the subordinate clause not. Example: "I play soccer, unfortunately you don't". The first part of this sentence is a complete German main clause, while the second part after the comma is a subordinate clause because a verb is missing.
Sentence series and sentence structure - this is how you create exercises
German is a difficult language, not only foreigners have difficulties, they ...
In order to determine whether it is a matter of a compound sentence or a series of sentences, a determination of the constituent parts of the sentence must first be carried out.
