Sentence Structure at the Beginning of the Sentence (Part 2)

We have discussed the "unmarked" order of sentences, but now it is time to consider when and why a speaker would begin a sentence with a word or phrase other than the subject. Basically, any word the speaker wants to emphasize can be placed in the first position. Take our model sentence with two objects:

• Ulrike öffnet dem Studenten die Tür.

If you want to emphasize that Ulrike opens the door to him (and not to her or them!) you may say:

• Ihm öffnet Ulrike die Tür.

Or if you want to emphasize that Ulrike opens the door (and not the cupboard) to him, you may say:

• Die Tür öffnet ihm Ulrike.

Note that the pronoun still directly follows the verb, even before the inverted subject.

Adverbial specifications also can come at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis:

• Gern organisiere ich morgen John eine Wohnung.
• Eine Wohnung organisiere ich John morgen gern.

The first could be said in the conversational context that you are glad, not sad at all, to find an apartment for John. Whereas the second  emphasizes that you don't mind arranging an apartment for John, but not a car or a computer.

Sometimes, however, adverbial specifications can move to the first position without disturbing the sense of a normal or unmarked word order. The temporal and causal specifications are frequently put in the first position (which forces the subject to invert to the third position).

Here are three versions of a sentence.The first two would seem awkward to Germans. Only the third, with the adverb of time placed early, sounds right.

• Kristina hat John eine Wohnung gestern auf dem Lindenhof organisiert.
• Auf dem Lindenhof hat Kristina John eine Wohnung gestern organisiert.
• Gestern hat Kristina John eine Wohnung auf dem Lindenhof organisiert.

More examples of good sentence structure:

• Am Montag hat er John pünktlich den Computer in das Zimmer gestellt.
• Aus Freundschaft organisiere ich John morgen gern eine Wohnung auf dem Lindenhof.