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I have gone over many website and youtube videos, and while all of them tell me the different modal partikels and the meanings, I have yet to find one which explains where I should insert them in a sentence. Could someone explain the same?

Jonathan Scholbach
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tryst with freedom
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  • You won't go far wrong if you insert them after the finite verb (in main clauses) or before the verb phrase (in subclauses). If there are counterexamples that you'd like explained you can edit them into your question. – Kilian Foth Apr 19 '22 at 06:15
  • I mean, I want an explicit prescription for what is allowed and not. I can't find it anywhere... that is why I am so frustrated @KilianFoth – tryst with freedom Apr 19 '22 at 10:35
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    @Buraian: My feeling is that if you're a learner then just go with the "rule" Kilian Foth gave. Word order in German is difficult to explain, with large gray areas between "right" and "wrong". When you're learning it's best to just follow a few simple rules which will never give you a "wrong" order. In general, speaking like a native is not something you can expect to happen just by studying dictionaries and grammars. – RDBury Apr 19 '22 at 18:51

1 Answers1

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Modal particles have a double function. They express the speaker’s attitude towards the entire sentence, and they highlight the constituent they precede. The only restriction is that they cannot be in the Vorfeld.

In the following sentence, I have put empty parentheses into all the slots where modal particles can be placed:

  1. Du hast () mir () heute () mit Vergnügen () den Anfang des Buchs () vorgelesen.

Modal particles like doch, wohl or ja can be placed in any of these slots. The following sentences visualize the modal’s particle highlighting effect by using bold type and by adding a contrasting supplement.

  1. Du hast doch mir heute mit Vergnügen den Anfang des Buchs vorgelesen (und nicht meiner Schwester).
  2. Du hast mir doch heute mit Vergnügen den Anfang des Buchs vorgelesen (und nicht gestern).
  3. Du hast mir heute doch mit Vergnügen den Anfang des Buchs vorgelesen (und nicht mit Verdruss).
  4. Du hast mir heute mit Vergnügen doch den Anfang des Buchs vorgelesen (und nicht das Ende des Buchs).
  5. Du hast mir heute mit Vergnügen den Anfang des Buchs doch vorgelesen (und nicht vorgesungen).

If you want to emphasize the word du in this sentence by a modal particle, it has to be moved to the Mittelfeld:

  1. Heute hast doch du mir mit Vergnügen den Anfang des Buchs vorgelesen (und nicht deine Schwester).

Only one modal particle slot can be filled per sentence. If there are sequences of modal particles, they must all be placed in the same slot:

  1. Du hast ja doch wohl mir heute mit Vergnügen den Anfang des Buchs vorgelesen (und nicht meiner Schwester).

A verb can only be highlighted by a modal particle when it is at the end of a sentence. In a sentence like the following, it cannot be highlighted by a modal particle (there are no modal particle slots at the end of a sentence either):

  1. Du rezitierst () mir () heute () mit Vergnügen () den Anfang des Buchs.

A detachable verb element at the end of the sentence can be highlighted by a modal particle, though.

  1. Du liest mir heute mit Vergnügen den Anfang des Buchs doch vor.
mach
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