can anyody please help?? :)

[nicoledyer893926]

hey everyone,
i can't seem to get the hang of sentence structure..........i just don't understand if any one could please help it would be fantastic!!!

cheers, Nicole

[denimac]

I have found Michele Thomas Introduction to German cd set has really helped with this.
You can find on itunes.

[nicoledyer893926]

ok thank you!! i will check it out..

[vmacdougal]

One really important thing to understand is that, in a "normal" sentence, there has to be a verb in the second position. Other sentence parts can move around more so than in English, but there has to be a verb second.

Der Hund beisst den Mann. ("The dog bites the man.")
Den Mann beisst der Hund. (Also "The dog bites the man." The articles indicate that Hund is the subject and Mann is the direct object.)

If there is a helping/auxiliary verb, or it's present perfect tense, or future tense, or any other situation where you have a "helping" and "main" verb, the helping verb is second and the main verb is at the end.

Ich darf in das Schwimmbad gehen. (I am allowed to go to the swimming pool.)
Ich werde in das Schwimmbad gehen. (I will go to the swimming pool.)
Ich bin in das Schwimmbad gegangen. (I have gone to the swimming pool.)

Does that get you started?

[nicoledyer893926]

wow!! yes thank you that does help!!