Subordinate clauses
Now we are taking a big step into the land of subordinate clauses and subordinating conjunctions.
We promised you that we would teach you in this beginning course only the grammar items you really need in order to converse in correct German. As we have already noted, learning about dependent or subordinate clauses is a challenge in German. So, do we really need to go there?
There is one type of subordinate clause that you can hardly avoid because there are some frequently used verbs that request to be followed by a dass-clause, or as we say in German ein dass-Satz. Dass is the German equivalent of the English conjunction 'that'. You know that it's hard to speak or write English without using 'that'!
The first thing you have to know is that subordinate clauses do not stand alone. They depend on a main clause and their relation to it is expressed by the subordinating conjunction or by a relative pronoun.
The next thing you have to learn about German subordinate clauses may seem somewhat strange:
The verb moves into the final position.
For once, the verb abandons its firm place in second position! What is happening with "Ordnung" we have come to appreciate? The German language is fond of neatly boxed-in sentences, starting with the subject, ending with the verb.
Remember how the separable prefix and the past participle like to move to the end of the sentence, and how after a modal auxiliary the infinitive of the main verb expressing the action moves to the end of the sentence.
In the subordinate clause, the conjugated verb also moves the end.
This place change of the verb has consequences for the separable prefix. Since the verb moves to the end of the subordinate clause where the separable prefix is already located, the separable prefix is reconnected with the verb.
In other words, verbs with separable prefixes do not separate the prefix in subordinate clauses.
What happens when there is not only a conjugated auxiliary (like haben or sein, or a modal) but also a participle or an infinitive in the subordinate clause? In that case,t he conjugated verb is placed at the very end.
Finally, subordinate clauses are always separated from the main clause by a comma.