| The subordinate clause: Subject clause, direct object clause or prepositional clause | |||||
| Most subordinate clauses act as subjects, direct or prepositional objects. The conjunction used for this type of subordinate clause is that in English and dass in German. | |||||
| Subject clauses | |||||
| The subject clause occupies the place of the subject in a main clause. Often, the pronoun es1) appears optionally in the main clause, where it already indicates the subordinate clause. This pronoun must appear in the first position of the main clause whenever this position is not occupied by another element: | |||||
| Main clause | Subordinate clause functioning as subject | english | |||
| 1stpos. | 2ndpos. verb | objects | |||
| Mir | gefällt | (es) | sehr, | dass Sie kommen. | I am very pleased that you are coming. |
| Es | gefällt | mir sehr, | dass Sie kommen. | I am very pleased that you are coming. | |
| Mich | freut | (es), | dass du gekommen bist. | I'm glad (that) you came. | |
| Es | freut | mich, | dass du gekommen bist. | I'm glad (that) you came. | |
| Es | war | mir wichtig, | dass er gekommen ist. | It was important to me that he came. | |
| Mir | war | (es) | wichtig, | dass er gekommen ist. | It was important to me that he came. |
| Wichtig | war | (es) | mir, | dass er gekommen ist. | It was important to me that he came. |
| If the subordinate clause precedes the main clause, in English, the conjunction generally becomes the fact that (1). In German, die Tatsache, dass or simply dass can be used in this case. In this case, the pronoun es cannot be used to refer to the subordinate clause: | |||||
| (1) Die Tatsache, dass Sie kommen, gefällt mir sehr. That fact that you are coming pleases me very much. | |||||
| (2) Dass Sie kommen, gefällt mir sehr. I am very pleased that you are coming. | |||||
| Direct object clauses | |||||
| If the subordinate clause functions as a direct object (Akkusativobjekt), the pronoun es1)referring to the subordinate clause is uncommon but possible. It is almost always optional and should never be in the first position of the main clause: | |||||
| Main clause | Subordinate clause functioning as direct object | english | |||
| 1stpos. | 2ndpos. verb | objects | |||
| Ich | sehe | (es), | dass du arbeitest. | I see that you are working. | |
| Ich | finde | (es) | gut, | dass du kommst. | I think it's good that you come. |
| Er | glaubt | (es) | ihr, | dass sie damit nichts zu tun hat. | He believes her that she has nothing to do with it. |
| Subordinate clause functioning as a prepositional object | |||||
| If the subordinate clause functions as a prepositional complement, the pronominal adverb corresponding to the preposition governing the verb must appear, with its structure da(r) + preposition (Korrelat) already indicating the subordinate clause in the main clause. This also applies if the subordinate clause depends on a verbal phrase that requires a preposition: | |||||
| Main clause | Subordinate clause functioning as aprepositional object | español | |||
| subj. + verb 1 | objects | last pos. verb 2 | |||
| Er erinnert | die Schüler | daran, | dass bald Ferien sind. | He reminds the pupils that the holidays are coming soon. | |
| Sie tragen | viel | dazu | bei, | dass die Stadt sauber ist. | They contribute a lot to keeping the city clean. |
| Er hat | darauf | gewartet, | dass der Bus kommt. | He has been waiting for the bus to arrive. | |
| _____________________ | |||||
| 1) Incidentally, the German technical term for the use of es in this sense is Korrelat.. | |||||