Longer sentences in German? Conjunction... Part 2

It's time to take the next step in our relationship... with conjunctions! Welcome back to those who have been following along in this German-learning journey and welcome to those reading this blog for the first time.

Last week in Part 1 of Conjunctions, we spoke about coordinating conjunctions which allow you to combine two sentences with either und, oder, aber, dann, sondern and doch. When you put these sentences together, the nice thing is that the normal sentence structure with the verb in 2nd position doesn't change for both of them. Both of them are stand alone statements as seen below:

Coordinating Conjunction Example (verb 2nd position for both):
Ich mag dich und du magst mich. (I like you and you like me.)

Today, instead of coordinating Conjunctions, we will look at Subjunctions or Subordinating Conjunctions or in German, Subjunktionen. This type of conjunction connects sentences, while one of these sentences can stand alone, the other sentence needs the other. Let's look at this sentence:

I dream about unicorns when I sleep.

"I dream about unicorns." is a perfectly stand-alone sentence, but when you here "When I sleep" you wonder where the rest of the sentence is. When I sleep... and what happens next? In this case "When I sleep, I dream about unicorns" or in German:

Ich träume über Einhörner, wenn ich schlafe.

... verb 2nd position ... , subordinating conjunction ...  verb at the end .

And this is where the sentence structure changes! Your stand-alone sentence "Ich träume über Einhörner." has the verb in 2nd position, but the subordinate sentence "When I sleep" that has wenn (subordinating conjunction) puts the verb at the end! Here are a few more examples with different subordinating conjunctions in the second part of the sentence:

• Ich habe Gitarre spielen gelernt, weil ich drinnen bleiben musste.
(I learned to play guitar because I needed to stay inside.)

• Sie fühlt sich sicher, solange sie drinnen bleibt.
(She feels safe as long as she stays inside.)

• Mein Vater kocht Abendessen, wenn er den Grill benutzen kann.
(My father cooks dinner if he can use the grill.)

• Die Tangotänzer tanzen, während der Gitarrist klimpert.
(The tango dancers dance while the guitar player strums.)

• Wir haben mehr Energie, seit wir angefangen haben zu joggen. ('zu joggen' fits better at the end of the sentence.)
(We have more energy since we started jogging.)

• Sarah hat immer draußen gespielt, bevor sie ein Smartphone hatte.
(Sarah always played outside before she had a smart phone.)

• Sie gingen am Strand entlang, obwohl der Wettermann den Sturm meldete.
(They walked by the beach despite the weatherman reporting the storm.)

• Sie muss das Prüfungsmaterial studieren, damit sie die Prüfung bestehen kann.
(She needs to study the exam material in order for her to pass the exam.)

• Ich denke, dass mein Zug bald kommt.
(I think that my train is coming soon.)

There are many more subordinating conjunction words out there. I really recommend this site https://deutsch.lingolia.com/de/grammatik/satzbau/konjunktionen which has a great list. So now that we know how to make "I dream about unicorns when I sleep". How do you flip it and say:

When I sleep, I dream about unicorns.

When you have the Subordinating conjunction in the beginning, after the comma, your second sentence begins with the verb and looks like this:

Wenn ich schlafe, träume ich über Einhörner.

subordinating conjunction ...  verb at the end , verb first position ... .

Your subordinating sentence still has the verb at the end, and now your stand-alone sentence "I dream about unicorns" has the verb first in the sentence. You might be wondering how you handel modal verbs, and so you can look at the examples below:

• Weil ich drinnen bleiben musste, lernte ich Gitarre zu spielen.
(Because I needed to stay inside, I learned to play guitar.)

• Solange sie drinnen bleibt, fühlt sie sich sicher.
(As long as she stays inside, she feels safe.)

• Wenn er den Grill benutzen kann, kocht mein Vater das Abendessen.
(If he can use the grill, my father cooks dinner.)

• Während der Gitarrist klimpert, tanzen die Tangotänzer.
(While the guitar player strums, the tango dancers dance.)

• Seit wir angefangen haben zu joggen, haben wir mehr Energie.
(Since we started jogging, we have more energy.)

• Bevor sie ein Smartphone hatte, hat Sarah immer draußen gespielt.
(Before she had a smart phone, Sarah always played outside.)

• Obwohl der Wettermann den Sturm meldete, gingen sie am Strand entlang.
(Despite the weatherman reporting the storm, they walked by the beach.)

• Damit sie die Prüfung bestehen kann, muss sie das Prüfungsmaterial studieren.
(In order for her to pass the exam, she needs to study the exam material.)

• Ich denke, dass mein Zug bald kommt. (Unless you want to sound like Yoda, don't switch this sentence.)
(I think that my train is coming soon.)

So the ocean of conjunctions is growing deeper and so is your level of German skill! Until next week, wishing everyone health and happiness :)

German Exercise for the Week:
'Subordinating Conjunctions' Übung 2 (Level: A2)
Some simple subordinating sentences and also a small card size cut-out so you can easily reference this technique in your writing :)

Link to: 'Coordinating Conjunctions' Übung 2 (Level: A2)