Joining sentences

You already know one connector — weil — and you know it does something dramatic: it sends the verb to the end. The four connectors in this lesson are the opposite. They join two main clauses and leave both of them exactly as they were.

After und, aber, oder and denn: normal word order. The verb stays in position 2 of its own clause.

• Ich arbeite und meine Frau lernt Deutsch.

  I work and my wife is learning German.

• Ich bin müde, aber ich muss arbeiten.

  I am tired, but I have to work.

• Willst du Kaffee oder Tee?

  Do you want coffee or tea?

• Ich gehe schlafen, denn ich bin müde.

  I am going to sleep, because I am tired.

  bin stays in position 2

This makes denn and weil worth comparing side by side. They mean the same thing. They behave completely differently.

In conversation, weil is far more common. denn is a little more written, and slightly more formal — but it is easier, so it is a good safety net when a weil-clause starts getting complicated.

One comma note: German puts a comma before aber and denn, and before weil. Before und and oder joining two full clauses, the comma is optional and usually left out.