Answers
Sep 26, 2013 - 07:35 AM
Hi Clive, adverbs are a really tricky subject in German grammar. Not even academic linguists have figured out all the rules for where German adverbs can be placed. The fact is that their place varies a lot.
In the Fluenz program we try to simplify things as much as possible and give you general rules to place various types of adverbs as we go along. Unfortunately, often it's just not possible to find a rule that applies to all, or even the majority of examples.
So for the phrase 'lieber mögen' = 'to prefer', just remember that it's used in the order Nora teaches you in session 8 of level 3:
Ich mag Berlin lieber = I prefer Berlin
Subject + mögen (conjugated) + direct object + lieber
Think of the English phrase: to like better - you will see that the word order corresponds to the English word order:
Ich mag Berlin lieber = I like Berlin better / I prefer Berlin
Er mag seine große Schwester lieber = He likes his big sister better / He prefers his big sister
I hope this helps!
In the Fluenz program we try to simplify things as much as possible and give you general rules to place various types of adverbs as we go along. Unfortunately, often it's just not possible to find a rule that applies to all, or even the majority of examples.
So for the phrase 'lieber mögen' = 'to prefer', just remember that it's used in the order Nora teaches you in session 8 of level 3:
Ich mag Berlin lieber = I prefer Berlin
Subject + mögen (conjugated) + direct object + lieber
Think of the English phrase: to like better - you will see that the word order corresponds to the English word order:
Ich mag Berlin lieber = I like Berlin better / I prefer Berlin
Er mag seine große Schwester lieber = He likes his big sister better / He prefers his big sister
I hope this helps!
Oct 20, 2013 - 10:37 AM
Thank you Uta your explanation was really helpful and to pair it with the English phrase "to like better" has made it simpler for me to understand
Oct 28, 2013 - 02:14 PM
Hi Clive, I'm very happy I could help!