The phrase-order checker compares three supplied German examples and explains the finite verb’s place. Enter whole groups separated by slashes, so Heute Abend stays intact and the separate weil clause gets its own pattern.
Start with two main clauses about the same event
Use these original fictional sentences:
- G1: Mia liest heute Abend ein Buch.
- G2: Heute Abend liest Mia ein Buch.
An illustrative English rendering is “Mia reads a book this evening.” The sentences describe a fictional scenario, not an observed event. They retain the same basic content while arranging the opening differently; that does not make their emphasis identical.
Use four stable card IDs: Subject, FiniteVerb, TimePhrase, and ObjectPhrase.
| Card ID | G1 display | G2 display |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | Mia | Mia |
| FiniteVerb | liest | liest |
| TimePhrase | heute Abend | Heute Abend |
| ObjectPhrase | ein Buch | ein Buch |
The time card remains one group. Its initial capitalization changes when moved to the start of G2; its phrase identity does not change. Keep the object phrase together too.
Michigan's German word-order resource explicitly distinguishes second position from second written word and discusses fronted sentence elements and finite verbs in subordinate clauses. We use those rules with our own sentences and cards, not its jokes, exercises, or course scoring threshold. Michigan German word-order resource
Make the first field and finite-verb position visible
For these supplied declarative main clauses, the finite verb occupies position two. The first position can contain the subject or the whole time phrase.
| Example | First field | Finite-verb position | Remaining supplied groups |
|---|---|---|---|
| G1 | Mia | liest | heute Abend; ein Buch |
| G2 | Heute Abend | liest | Mia; ein Buch |
In G2, Heute and Abend are two written words inside one first-position phrase. liest is the third written word but occupies the second position.
Ask the learner to point to the full first field, then the finite verb. Do not ask only for “word two.” That would encourage the wrong explanation.
Fronting the time phrase does not add a comma after Heute Abend in this example. The declared sequence is “Heute Abend liest Mia ein Buch.” The subject follows the verb; it does not share the first field with the time phrase.
Use a trial that exposes the counting error
Heute Abend Mia liest ein Buch.
Its first field is Heute Abend. Mia then occupies the next field before liest, so the finite verb appears after two opening groups instead of in position two.
Retain the trial and identify that placement issue. The expected G2 arrangement is TimePhrase, FiniteVerb, Subject, ObjectPhrase.
Do not split Heute Abend into two draggable word tokens to force liest into a selected numeric word slot. The learner needs to move the whole phrase and explain the position.
A corrected arrangement does not establish that the learner understands the distinction. Keep a blank explanation field asking why a two-word phrase can fill one position. The teacher reviews that explanation separately.
Give the weil clause its own boundary
Mia bleibt zu Hause, weil sie ein Buch liest.
The provided context states that sie refers to Mia. G3 says that Mia stays at home because she reads a book; it is a different example from the two evening sentences. Do not present it as a simple rearrangement of G1's tokens.
Mark the comma and clause boundary. The main clause is “Mia bleibt zu Hause,” and the subordinate clause is “weil sie ein Buch liest.”
| Clause | Opening or connector | Subject | Other supplied group | Finite verb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main | Mia in first field | Mia | zu Hause | bleibt in position two |
| weil clause | weil | sie | ein Buch | liest at the end |
This table identifies roles; Mia's two appearances in its main-clause row refer to the same supplied token, not two tokens to print.
For the weil clause, use separate connector, subject, object, and final-finite-verb regions. The expected sequence is weil / sie / ein Buch / liest.
Try the worked example
Load G2 and enter “Heute Abend / Mia / liest / ein Buch.” The checker finds the intact supplied groups, then identifies the finite verb in the third field. Move liest before Mia and check again. For G3, keep the main clause as context and enter only “weil / sie / ein Buch / liest.” Ask learners to explain why position two differs from word two; review that prose separately.
The checker compares only the three supplied patterns. It is not a general German parser or a measure of mastery.
Recreate this example
Build one complete self-contained HTML page for this task: check the supplied whole-phrase arrangements and explain main-clause versus weil-clause verb placement.
Use these exact original practice data and worked expectations: G1 Mia / liest / heute Abend / ein Buch. G2 Heute Abend / liest / Mia / ein Buch. G3 context Mia bleibt zu Hause, then weil / sie / ein Buch / liest. In G3 sie refers to Mia. Invalid G2 trial Heute Abend / Mia / liest / ein Buch.
Implement the following useful local interactions: Provide G1/G2/G3 buttons, a slash-separated phrase field, a Check button, and a blank explanation field. Reject missing/repeated/changed groups before placement checks. Changing example clears response and feedback. Accept only the selected exact pattern without judging all other German prose. Preserve the supplied source text and distinguish an uncomputed state, a successful local result, and an invalid or incomplete input. Update output only from the current input snapshot. An input edit must retire stale feedback until the reader runs the relevant action again. Do not silently invent missing values or replace a failing case with a success.
Design the page as a phrase-card desk with warm white space, green verb emphasis, and complete sentence examples. Put a compact task heading, actual sample data, the main result, and usable controls early enough to be useful on a narrow screen. Use readable text of at least 16px, generous paragraph spacing, strong contrast, native labels, accessible buttons, and visible keyboard focus. Stack long records at 360px and wrap code without page-level horizontal overflow.
Use type=button and explicit querySelector-based click handlers rather than relying on form submission. If Enter is useful, handle it only on the relevant input and ignore isComposing. Keep effects within this open page; no remote dependencies, network calls, persistence, fake downloads, or automated sending. The checker compares only the three supplied patterns. It is not a general German parser or a measure of mastery. Place worked explanations beside their data and identify teacher or synthetic examples clearly. Output only the complete HTML document, with inline styles and script and LF line endings.
Review the phrase comparisons in NOS
Use the phrase comparison to prepare the next pair turn, with each learner explaining one change. If you keep a comparison copy in NOS, its rendered page can show the whole phrase beside the verb; eligible static teacher prompts can be revised in visual editing mode.