The basic structure of a German sentence (the TeCaMoLo rule)
There is a basic sentence structure used in almost all German sentences. It isn't mandatory, but we use it to form neutral sentences in which no one part is emphasized.
Die Gäste mussten gestern wegen eines Wasserschadens schnell in ein anderes Hotel gebracht werden.
The guests had to be moved quickly to another hotel yesterday because of water damage.
The basic structure (also known as the TeKaMoLo rule) is as follows:
Temporal information (When?) → gestern (yesterday)
Causal information (Why?) → wegen eines Wasserschadens (because of water damage)
Modal information (How?) → schnell (quickly)
Location information (Where?) → in ein anderes Hotel (to another hotel)
Note: we can change the basic structure to emphasize a certain piece of information. However, the location information always comes after the other information.
Gestern mussten die Gäste wegen eines Wasserschadens schnell in ein anderes Hotel gebracht werden. (Betonung der temporalen Angabe)
Yesterday, the guests had to be quickly moved to another hotel because of water damage. (Emphasis on temporal information)
Wegen eines Wasserschadens mussten die Gäste gestern schnell in ein anderes Hotel gebracht werden. (Betonung der kausalen Angabe)
Due to water damage, the guests had to be moved quickly to another hotel yesterday. (Emphasis on causal information)
Schnell mussten die Gäste gestern wegen eines Wasserschadens in ein anderes Hotel gebracht werden. (Betonung der modalen Angabe)
Guests quickly had to be moved to another hotel yesterday due to water damage. (Emphasis on modal information)
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