Sentence structure tips: verb placement?

Question

I'm having some trouble getting used to placing the second verb in a phrase at the end. > Sie kann sehr gut deutsch sprechen Taking the above sentence as an example, I find it hard to read because you don't know that "sprechen" is involved until you reach the very end, and only then does the sentence make sense. Before that, it reads as "She can very good German…" Is this OK or should I look at the final position to see what the verb is? Is this something that I'll just get used to as I practice more German and read more? Are there any tricks that will make the process easier?

Answer 1

I'm a native German speaker and just tested myself to see how I do it. I just read the sentence word by word but obviously, once you can read the sentences a little faster, you get to the end quicker and it doesn't confuse you as much. It's just something you'll have to get used to I guess, but if it helps you in the beginning, I'm sure there's nothing wrong with skipping to the end of the sentence when you just read in silence.

Answer 2

This happens a lot when modal verbs are used (koennen, moechten, wollen, muessen, etc.) and when the auxiliary verbs "sein" and "haben" are used to form the compound past tense (e.g. "Ich bin gestern erst sehr spaet nach Hause gekommen."). To native speakers, the use of modal and auxiliary verbs is a signal that the verb is at the end. After a while you'll get used to it and also start checking for the verb/ anticipating the verb at the end of the sentence. Yes, it does become second nature after a lot of exposure to German, but there are of course lots of jokes about forgetting the verb, missing the verb, etc. Sometimes, when the sentence is quite long, Germans struggle with that as well.