German : normal order (verb as the 2nd element )

German : normal order (verb as the 2nd element )

1. The simplest case of normal word order is a sentence containing SUBJECT, VERB, and DIRECT OBJECT, and nothing more.
eg., I 'll buy the car.

It is worth noting that German is more flexible than English here, and ill equally accept:
Ich kaufe das Auto and Das Auto kaufe ich.

2. In the normal order, the important point is that he verb MUST be the SECOND element and CANNOT come first or third position.

Any other elemetn may be stressed by being placed at he beginning, but the subject wull JUMP to third position so that the verb remains SECOND.

eg.,

Heute fährt Peter in die Stadt.

Dort kauft er einige Bücher.

3. This inversion of subject and verb is extremely common, occurring as it does in any MAIN clause which does not BEGIN with the subject;

This includes any sentence which BEGINS with a subordinate clause, which then counts as the FIRST element.

eg.,

Als ich ihn sah, saß er im Garten.

Daß sei verheiratet war, wußte er nicht.