Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to distinguish coordinating from subordinating conjunctions, and know the genuinely important word-order difference between them.

Lesson Explanation

Coordinating conjunctions (und “and,” aber “but,” oder “or”) join two independent clauses without changing word order — both clauses keep their normal V2 structure (Lesson 5):

Ich lese, und sie schreibt.  (I am reading, and she is writing.)

Subordinating conjunctions (weil “because,” dass “that,” wenn “if/when”) introduce a dependent clause with a genuinely different, distinctive word order: the conjugated verb moves to the very end of that clause, not second position:

Ich bleibe zu Hause, weil es regnet.  (I am staying home, because it is raining.)

Notice regnet (the conjugated verb) is at the very end of the weil clause, genuinely different from the V2 pattern that would apply in a standalone sentence (Es regnet.). This verb-final pattern is covered in greater depth in Part 6, Lesson 1.

Practice Questions