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Konsekutivsätze

Konsekutivsätzefor English Speakers

Introduction

Consecutive clauses express results: 'Er war so müde, dass er einschlief' = 'He was so tired that he fell asleep'. English uses 'so...that' identically. German also has 'sodass' (so that — result), 'derart...dass' (to such an extent that), and 'dermaßen...dass'. The concept is perfectly parallel between the two languages. The only German-specific rule is verb-final position in the dass-clause.

German vs English

In German

Er war so müde, dass er einschlief.

In English

He was so tired that he fell asleep.

Key Difference

Identical structure: so + adjective + dass. German puts the verb at the end of the dass-clause.

In German

Es regnete stark, sodass wir nicht gingen.

In English

It rained heavily, so we didn't go.

Key Difference

Sodass = so that (result). German verb-final; English normal word order.

Common Mistakes for English Speakers

Er war so müde, dass er schlief ein.

Separating the prefix — in subordinate clauses, separable verbs stay together at the end.

Er war so müde, dass er einschlief.

Es regnete stark, so dass wir gingen nicht.

Wrong negation and verb placement — 'nicht' comes before the verb at the end of the clause.

Es regnete stark, sodass wir nicht gingen.

Practice Examples

Die Musik war so laut, dass wir nichts hörten.

The music was so loud that we couldn't hear anything.

Er trainierte hart, sodass er gewann.

He trained hard, so he won.

Es schneite derart stark, dass die Schule ausfiel.

It snowed so heavily that school was cancelled.

Memory Tip

SO...DASS = SO...THAT — one of the most parallel structures between German and English. Just remember verb-final.

View Grammar Rule

Konsekutivsätze

KonsekutivsätzeC1

Practice Exercises

Konsekutivsätze Übungen

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