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SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS


SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS 


Subordinate conjunctions is one of two types of conjunctions. A conjunction is a word that joins two phrases or ideas into one sentence. The other form of conjunction is coordinate conjunctions, which unlike subordinate conjunctions doesn't affect the sentence structure. Coordinate conjunctions include und, aber and oder. 
Subordinate conjunctions are very common and useful and are always used the same way. A subordinate conjunction is used to join two clauses to make one sentence. After the subordinate conjunction in a sentence the verb always moves to the end of the sentence. There must always be a comma directly in front of a subordinate conjunction. An example of a subordinate conjunctions role:


Example 1
“you can borrow a book” “you asked me”

“Du kannst ein Buch ausleihen. Du hast mich gefragt.”

Example 2 - with a subordinate conjunction:

“You can borrow a book, because you asked me.”

“ Du kannst ein Buch ausleihen, weil du mich gefragt hast.”


NOTE: In example 2, the comma in front of the subordinate conjunction and that only after the subordinate conjunctions do the verbs move to the end of the sentence. 




Common Subordinate conjunctions include:
(BBC,2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/german/grammar/conjunctionsrev2.shtml)














1. Ich gehe ins Kino, weil ich Findet Nemo sehen möchte.
(I'm going to the cinema because I want to see Finding Nemo.)

2. Ich bin mir sicher, dass ich meinen Reisepaß habe.
(I'm sure that I have my passport.)

3. Ich habe einen Apfel, obwohl ich Äpfel nicht mag.
(I have an apple, although I don’t like apples.)

4. Die Vögel singen, wenn die Sonne scheint. 
(The birds sing whenever the sun is shining.)

5. Er hat dich gefragt, ob du ins Kino gehen möchtest. 
(he asked if you wanted to go to the cinema.) 

6. Kannst du das Haus fegen, während ich weg bin?
(Can you sweep the house while I am away?)

7. Suchst du einen Job, bevor du an die Uni gehst?
(Are you looking for a job before going to Uni?)

8. Ich habe keine Heizung, seitdem Januar. 
(I haven’t had heating since January.)

9. Wir haben gepackt, nachdem wir aufgestanden sind.
( We packed our bags, after we got up.)

10. Er ist Pilot gewesen, solange ich mich erinnern kann.
(He has been a Pilot, as long as I can remember.) 

How could these two clauses be joined and made grammatically correct? 

Ich mag Kinder. Ich keine habe.
(I like kids. I don’t have any.)












REFERENCES 

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) n.d., Subordinating conjunctions, accessed 20 July 2017, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/german/grammar/conjunctionsrev2.shtml>. (sentence 1 using weil)

Beolingus n.d., Dictionary De- En, accessed 20 July 2017, <http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/dings.cgi?service=deen&opterrors=0&optpro=0&query=been&iservice=>.

GermanVeryEasy.com n.d., Conjunctions in German, accessed 20 July 2017, <https://www.germanveryeasy.com/conjunctions#obwohl>.

English Oxford Living Dictionaries n.d., Subordinate, accessed 20 July 2017, <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/subordinate>.

German for Music Lovers 2001, Grammatical Terms, accessed 20 July 2017, <http://www.acampitelli.com/grammatical_teminology.htm#sentence>.

Stocker, P & Saunders, K 1988, Einsicht Neue Ausgabe, Hodder and Stoughton, Honk Hong.

Sandry, C, Somerville, J, Morris, P & Aberdeen, H 2000, Brennpunkt Neue Ausgabe, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1994, Spain. 


Traupman, JC 1981, The Bantam New College German and English Dictionary, Bantam Books, United States.

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