order of adverbs in a German sentence - time before manner before place, abbreviated to TMP

inverts the subject and verb in a sentence, when an adverb starts the sentence

verb of necessity or possibility (‘must’, ‘can’, ‘want’) used with a 2nd verb in infinitive, which goes to the end

German single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing, e.g., ‘war’, ‘hatte’, ‘gab’

A1 - 1 Fäule

A1 - 2 teure

A1 - 3 Haufen

A1 - 4 Aula

A1 - 5 außen

A1 - 6 Leute

B1 - 1 Matthias und seine Familie mussten zuerst [mit dem Auto] zum Bahnhof ...

B1 - 2 [Um neun Uhr] sind sie in den Zug nach Hamburg gestiegen.

B1 - 3 Dann mussten sie den Zug [nach Dagebüll] nehmen.

B1 - 4 [Danach] mussten sie mit dem Boot zur Insel fahren.

B1 - 5 Ein paar Stunden später ist die Familie [glücklich] an der Insel ...

B1 - 6 Nächste Woche wird er bestimmt [in seiner neuen Schule] anfangen.

C1a, C1b - Also, wie war die Reise? Matthias und seine Familie mussten ...

A new place: time-manner-place, imperfect modal verbs

German

Travels and places: present and imperfect modal verbs

A charity concert: past participles, verb stress, 'kein' vs 'nicht'

A charity concert: sentence intonation, object pronouns

This unit consolidates grammar knowledge of word order - time before manner before place - and revisits imperfect modals. The present and perfect tense are revisited with verbs plus indirect objects.

Places and projects: imperfect modal verbs

The imperfect tense is used in written, but not usually in spoken German.

Imperfect modal verbs are used in both speech and writing.

Order the sentence according to the TMP rule.

Order the words below to form a sentence. Emphasise the adverb of time.

'Das Boot kommt __________ zehn Uhr an.'. Choose the correct missing word.

Order the words to say: 'a pleasant place with a strong wind'.

Write in English: 'er hatte sein eigenes Haus'.

Write in German: 'there was a small island'.

Starter Quiz