Leitner

Learn German by moving the sentence around the verb

German is taught as “verb second”, and then everyone quietly assumes the subject has to come first, because in English it does. It does not: any phrase can take the slot before the verb, and the case is carried by the article rather than by the position. The block below lets you move them and watch the articles change in place — including der Frau, which is dative feminine and catches nearly everybody once.

Move a phrase into the Vorfeld. The verb stays second, and the articles re-inflect with the roles.

German · syntaxVERB SECOND
Vorfeld
Verb, second
gibt
Mittelfeld
Verb, final

der Mann gibt der Frau den Brief.

meansthe man gives the letter to the woman

Click a phrase to move it into or out of the Vorfeld; click its case badge to hand that role to the next phrase.

“der Mann” is in the Vorfeld, so that is what the sentence is about — and the verb still comes second whatever you put there. Note “der Frau”: that is dative feminine, not a nominative masculine, which is the one form that catches everybody.

Start a German planThe first lesson of every plan is free

What people come here to do

You describe the goal in your own words and it asks questions back until the plan is one you would actually follow. These are the shapes that goal usually takes.

  • Reach B1 for a job or a visa
  • Stop freezing mid-sentence over word order
  • Read German sources for my own subject
  • Get through a university language requirement

What a German plan covers

Not a fixed syllabus — the plan is built around your goal and cuts what does not serve it. These are the topics it draws from, and whatever you get wrong comes back until it stops coming back.

The cases and what the articles do
Verb position: main clauses and subordinate ones
Tenses, and the perfect people actually use
Adjective endings without the table
Modal verbs and separable prefixes
Building a vocabulary that sticks

Other subjects

The mechanics are the same whatever the subject — a slider is a slider whether it is moving a coefficient or a rate of return. What changes is what it is a slider for.

Or see how it works and what it costs.