2
Words and sentences
pronoun
verb
pronoun
Er
frisst
sie.
He
eats
her.
Verb The VERB is the main word in a sentence telling you what is happening or being done, e.g. spielen (play) or kaufen (buy) or fressen (eat – by animals). It may have more than one part, as in this sentence: Ich habe gespielt (I have played).
Complements The COMPLEMENTS of the VERB tell you who is doing what to whom. They usually consist of a NOUN PHRASE, which might be a single noun or a longer phrase ending in a noun: Computer (NOUN), der Computer (DETERMINER NOUN), der neue Computer (DETERMINER ADJECTIVE NOUN). It may also consist simply of a PRONOUN, which is a word that ‘stands for’ the noun, like er or ich. The most important complements are as follows:
The SUBJECT does the action. The DIRECT OBJECT is typically the person or thing to which the action is done.
subject
verb
direct object
Der Wolf
frisst
die Großmutter.
Rotkäppchen
hat
eine Großmutter.
Ich
kaufe
einen Computer.
The INDIRECT OBJECT is typically the person who ‘benefits’ from the action in a sentence such as ‘Little Red Riding Hood takes a cake to the grandmother’.
subject
verb
indirect object
direct object
Rotkäppchen
bringt
der Großmutter
einen Kuchen.
There are also a few other types of complement, notably:
The
PREPOSITIONAL OBJECT, which consists of a preposition such as in, an, auf and a noun phrase, e.g. Der Wolf wartet auf Rotkäppchen, ‘ The wolf waits for Little Red Riding Hood’.
The PREDICATE COMPLEMENT, which is used after certain verbs like sein (be), Rotkäppchen ist ein Mädchen or Der Wolf ist böse.