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WORD GRAMMAR
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Verb
- Conjugation in indicative
- Person and number
- Tenses
- Voice
- Mood
- Verb categories
- Valency
- Semantic categories of verbs
- Finite / non-finite verb forms
- Noun
- Adjective
- Adverb
- Article
- Pronoun
- Preposition
- Conjunction
- Particle
- Interjection
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Verb
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SENTENCE GRAMMAR
- Clause types
- Complex clauses
- Constituents of a sentence
- Sentence structure
- Word order in a sentence
- Negation
Syntactic tendencies and rules
XA8
The pronoun before noun tendency is the strongest syntactic tendency and determines the sequence of subject and dative – and/or accusative object in the Middlefield (Mittelfeld). This tendency applies exclusively to personal and reflexive pronouns.
pronouns before nouns
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Examples | pronoun | noun | |
Zum Geburtstag wird mir mein Vater ein Handy schenken. | dative object | subject * | |
Leider hat mich mein Chef nicht rechtzeitig benachrichtigt. | accusative object | subject * | |
Zum Geburtstag wird es mir mein Vater schenken. | dative and accusative object | subject * | |
Morgen wird sich der Lehrer danach erkundigen. | reflexive pronoun | subject * | |
Ich kann ihm das Geld nicht zurückgeben. | dative object | accusative object | |
Ich kann es meinem Freund nicht zurückgeben. | accusative object | dative object | |
Ich kann mir mein Leben in 20 Jahren nicht vorstellen. | reflexive pronoun | accusative object |
* When the subject is a noun, it can occupy the first position of the Middlefield (Mittelfeld) and, therefore, stand before the dative- and/or accusative object or the reflexive pronoun.
Another syntactic tendency is that an element known and already mentioned stands before one that is new.
old before new
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Examples | old | new | |
Was passiert mit dem alten Wagen? Mein Vater will den alten Wagen meiner Cousine schenken. |
accusative object | dative object | |
Was hast du morgen vor? Ich werde morgen meine Großeltern besuchen. |
adverbial | accusative object |
Another tendency that complies with the "old before new" tendency is the definite (i.e. the known) standing before the indefinite (i.e. the unknown).
definite before indefinite
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Examples | definite | indefinite | |
Mein Vater will den alten Wagen einem Freund schenken. |
accusative object | dative object |
The subject and dative – and/or accusative object sequence in the Middlefield (Mittelfeld) is also affected by the facts that these elements denote, whether they refer to animate (person) or inanimate (non-person) things.
animate before inanimate
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Examples | animate | inanimate | |
Am meisten gefallen den Kindern die Zeichentrickfilme . | dative object | subject | |
Er hat seine Kinder einer großen Gefahr ausgesetzt. | accusative object | dative object | |
Das Haus hat die Besitzer ein Vermögen gekostet. | accusative object | accusative object |