German 路 Chapter 2 路 Lesson 8 路 Grammar primer
Word order: the verb comes second
German insists on second position in a main clause and last position in a subordinate one, and the difference is the rule, not decoration.
The short version
The German verb is always the second element
Start a sentence with heute, morgen or dann and the verb still comes next, with the subject pushed in behind it. Heute ich gehe is the classic English-speaker mistake; the verb holds second place whatever you put first.
Heute gehe ich nach Hause.
Weil sends the verb to the end, denn does not
Both mean because. After weil the conjugated verb moves to the end of the clause; after denn the clause keeps normal verb-second order. If a weil clause is tying you in knots mid-sentence, denn does the same job with the order you already know.
Ich bleibe zu Hause, weil ich krank bin.
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Lesson 8 of 24 in this chapter