106 C: V2 Rule

C: V2 Rule

Short version: 

V2 means: In German, Verb normally comes second. Hence V2.

Long Version:

In English, the action usually comes after the person who did it (subject) regardless of how many other things appear before the person:

• Example 1: The boy bit a dog. 
• Example 2: On Monday morning, the boy bit a dog.

If we look at each sentence as having ‘slots’ for things to go in (we will henceforth call them ‘Positions’), it will look like this:

As you can see, in English, it doesn’t matter whether the word ‘bit’ appears in position 2, 3 etc. What matters is that it appears after the one who did it.

In normal* German sentences, however, the action appears by default* in position 2 and the one who did it appears right next to it (before or after). 

*normal sentences means ‘statements’: sentences that state things, not ask questions or give commands. Statements always end with a full stop.

*by default means that there are no words in that sentence that change the word order or specific constructions that change where the action goes.

Let’s take a look at how this sentence would work in German: 

Example 1:

• A boy bit a dog.
• Ein Junge biss einen Hund.

Here, the action is in Position 2 both in English and in German.

Example 2:

• On Monday morning a boy bit a dog.
• Am Montagmorgen biss ein Junge einen Hund.

Here, in English the word ‘bit’ is in Position 3, but in German it has to be in Position 2.

Some other examples:  

• On Tuesdays, there is no German class.
• Dienstags gibt es keinen Deutschkurs.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING:

It is also important that in German, all we care about is that the action is in the second position and that the one who did it comes right next to it: immediately before, like in English, or immediately after. 

This means that the one who did the action may actually appear after the action!

Example:

• A girl bit a cat. 
• Ein Mädchen biss eine Katze.

In English, this can mean only one thing: the girl did the action to the cat. But in German, you couldn’t be sure about that because all we care about is that the action is on position 2 while ‘the doer’ and ‘the affected one’ can switch places:

“Ein Mädchen biss eine Katze.” could have two meanings then: a cat bit a girl or a girl bit a cat. 

You simply wouldn’t know! 

In these cases, you just use common sense. Since girls usually don’t bite cats, we can assume that it was the cat who did the biting. But we wouldn’t be 100% sure!