German vs. Indonesian word order
If you speak Indonesian, English word order feels familiar: subject, verb, object. German starts out the same way and then starts moving the verb. Three rules cover most of it.
1. The verb comes second, not after the subject
In a normal Indonesian sentence the verb sits right after the subject, wherever the sentence starts:
- Saya makan nasi. I eat rice.
- Hari ini saya makan nasi. Today I eat rice.
In German the verb has to be the second element of the sentence. If something else comes first, like a time word, the subject moves behind the verb:
- Ich esse Reis. I eat rice.
- Heute esse ich Reis. Today I eat rice. Literally: today eat I rice.
Starting with Heute ich esse Reis, the way Indonesian would, is an easy mistake to make.
2. Two-part verbs split up
Indonesian shows the past with a time word or a word like sudah, and the verb never changes. German often builds the past with two verbs: a helper in second place and the main verb at the very end.
- Saya sudah makan nasi. I've eaten rice.
- Ich habe Reis gegessen. Literally: I have rice eaten.
Everything else goes in between, so in a long sentence you wait until the end to find out what actually happened.
3. After "because", the verb goes to the end
In Indonesian, a clause after karena (because) keeps its normal order. In German, after weil and similar words, the verb moves to the end of the clause:
- Saya belajar karena saya ada ujian. I'm studying because I have an exam.
- Ich lerne, weil ich eine Prüfung habe. Literally: because I an exam have.
Bonus: adjectives switch sides
Indonesian puts the adjective after the noun, German puts it before, like English:
- rumah besar: house big
- das große Haus: the big house