The Structure

This is the strangest one. The composition of German grammar is so fix, which is make it easier to study, but at the same time also can make us clueless.

Verb always occupied second position after the subject. If you think there’s nothing wrong with it, then try this: to say ‘Yesterday I went for a walk’, you have to say it ‘Yesterday went I for a walk’!

Not to mention if the sentence contains 2 or more verbs. The later verbs are all placed at the end! So for example if you want to say ‘Yesterday I went to buy something’, then you have to say it ‘Yesterday went I something to buy’!

Yea I know, it’s not fair to compare English and German as I have been exposed to English for more than 20 years. But still, even German people say that it’s not easy to perform oral translation directly cause they all wait for the verb at the end!

Now I am thinking, since language is a reflection of the way people think, then this is how German people think. Since the facts are all in the middle of the sentence and the verb is at the end, maybe this is how they make decision. They collect all the facts and or materials and then decide what to do with them. So instead of deciding what to do first and then followed by collecting all the facts or materials needed, they do it differently. And that is how they made nice cars ;)