How to form and use German adverbials of time, reason, manner, and place?

German uses adverbials of time, reason, manner, and place to answer many important questions, like Wann? (meaning When?), Warum? (meaning Why?), Wie? (meaning How?) and Wo? (meaning Where?):

adverbial of reasonadverbial of timeadverbial of manneradverbial of place

Wegen des Regens kam der Briefträger um 7 Uhr mit dem Postauto zu uns.

Translation: Because of the rain, the mailman came to us by mail vanm at 7 o’clock.

Adverbial phrases tend to occur in a different order in English and German, so answering these questions can make German learners feel like a detective cracking their greatest case.

So, join me in finding out whodunnit and learn what adverbial phrases to use and how to arrange them in a German sentence. Mysterious adverbial phrases? Not for much longer!

An adverbial phrase is a word or a group of words that acts like an adverb, meaning that it provides descriptive information about something in the sentence that is not a noun. Adverbial phrases, therefore, tend to provide information answering questions like when?, where?, why?, how?, for how long?, to what extent?, or how often?

We sort adverbial phrases into types based on the kind of information they provide. The four most important categories are:

• Adverbial phrases of time → When? How often? For how long?

• Adverbial phrases of reason → Why? How come?

• Adverbial phrases of manner → How? With what? In what way?

• Adverbial phrases of place → Where? In which direction? From where?

Let’s take a look first at each of these types of adverbial phrases, then we’ll talk about where to place them in a sentence.

In German, the position of adverbials of time, reason, manner, and place is fairly flexible.

The most neutral location for a single adverbial is usually after the object(s) but before sentence-ending pieces like participles or separable prefixes:

But adverbs of each type can appear in a number of different locations within the sentence, such as:

• in the first position (before the conjugated verb ): → this strongly emphasizes the adverbial

  adverbialconjugated verb

  Einmal in der Woche hat er Professor Grünewald besucht.

  Translation: Once a week, he visited Professor Grünewald.

  Wegen seines Schnupfens bringe ich dem Detektiv einen Tee.

  Translation: Because of his head cold, I will bring the detective a cup of tea.

  Don’t forget: If anything but the subject is in the first position, the subject must stand behind the verb to observe the verb-second rule!

• before or after a single:direct object

  adverbialdirect object

  ✅Er hat einmal in der Woche Professor Grünewald besucht.
  ✅Er hat Professor Grünewald einmal in der Woche besucht.

  Translation: He visited Professor Grünewald once a week.

• before or after a single indirect object:

  adverbialindirect object

  ✅Ich helfe einmal in der Woche der Detektivin.
  ✅Ich helfe der Detektivin einmal in der Woche.

  Translation: I am helping the detective once a week.

• if there are two objects, the adverbial can go between the two, or after both, but not before both:

  adverbialindirect objectdirect object

  ✅Professor Grünewald hat mir gestern den Kugelschreiber gegeben.
  ✅Professor Grünewald hat mir den Kugelschreiber gestern gegeben.

  Translation: Professor Grünewald gave me the ballpoint pen yesterday.

  Remember, placing the adverbial after both is the neutral position. Placing the adverbial between the objects provides slight emphasis:

  adverbialindirect objectdirect object

  Ich bringe dem Detektiv um 7 Uhr den Tee.

  Translation: I will bring the detective the tea at 7 o’clock.

  slight emphasis on when it happens

  If you want to contrast two different adverbials, though, placing the adverbial after both objects is your best bet:

  adverbialindirect objectdirect object

  Ich bringe dem Detektiv seinen Tee morgen, nicht heute.

  Translation: I will bring the detective his tea tomorrow, not today.

• Remember, if there’s a participle or separable prefix at the end, the adverbial never follows that:

  • adverbialparticiple

    Sie haben die zehn Kronjuwelen mit einer Zange herausgebrochen.

    Translation: They tore out the ten crown jewels with a pair of pliers.
  • adverbialseparable prefix

    Sie brachen in den Juwelierladen ein.

    Translation: They broke into the jeweler’s store.

• either before or after an adjective that is used as a predicate:

  adverbialpredicate adjective

  ✅Die Detektivin war heute großartig!✅Die Detektivin war großartig heute!

  Translation: The detective was great today!

Adverbials of time, reason, manner, and place allow us to say when, why, how, and where something happened — they’re indispensable! Here is what you should take away from this post:

• There are lots of ways to form each type of adverbial, but you’ll want to look at what kind of information these phrases provide to help you choose where to place them in a sentence.

• The position of adverbials is very flexible in German, but the most neutral position for adverbials in German is usually after the object(s) and before any sentence-final pieces, like separable prefixes or participles.

• If you’re using a number of adverbials, the relative order is usually time + reason + manner + place

• If using more than one adverb from the same category, their relative positions are usually flexible, but there are some exceptions!

Now it’s time to practice with these German adverbial exercises to get an even better grasp of time, reason, manner, and place adverbial phrases!