Building Structures in German: Structure 1

The whole of the German language is made up of a number of structures. I remember one weekend, I was writing some lessons for the week ahead, when I suddenly realised this. I noticed that there are a certain number of structures in German, and that every sentence follows one of these structures. I spent the rest of the weekend working out that there are fifteen structures altogether, and I wrote them all down.

Once you know what all the structures are, you can begin to learn them. Every structure you learn gives you the ability to say a huge amount. Some structures are used more than others, and all fifteen structures together make up the whole German language. Once you’ve learnt all the structures, all you have to do is insert different words into the slots and you have a sentence.

These structures also help to propel you to fluency; if you can manipulate the structures at high speed, you can start to say anything you want without having to thing about how to say it.

This book can be used as both a reference book and as a workbook. As I said, each structure enables you to say a huge amount, so I’ve limited each book to one structure so as not to overburden you. By looking at just one structure at a time, you can really get to grips with it and understand its usage. It will help to clarify the German language and make it more like a reflex rather than something you have to think everything through like it’s a maths equation.

In this book I'll introduce you to the first German structure and you'll have ample opportunity to practise.