Connectors & Sentence Structure

This guide consolidates every pass the course made at connectors and word order — this topic was drilled repeatedly across the batch because it is the single biggest lever on a Schreiben/Ausdruck score. The rules below are merged into one definitive version; where source classes gave slightly different explanations of the same rule, the clearest and most grammatically precise version was kept.

Word Order Basics

The verb-position rule that drives everything else

German connectors split into two families, and the only thing that matters for classifying a new connector is where the conjugated verb ends up:

Type	Verb position	Examples
Coordinating conjunction (Coc)	verb stays in 2nd position of its own clause	und, aber, oder, denn, deshalb, darum, deswegen, trotzdem
Subordinating conjunction (SoC)	verb moves to the end of its own clause	weil, da, dass, wenn, ob, obwohl, sodass, nachdem, bevor, seit(dem), während, bis

Quick test: take the connector's clause in isolation and find the conjugated verb. Second position → coordinating. Last position → subordinating. Neither of these is an adverb — both deshalb-type and weil-type words are true connectors/conjunctions.

Position-1 / position-3 "swap" when a subordinate clause is fronted

A subordinate (verb-final) clause can be placed either after or before the main clause. When it is moved to the front of the sentence, the original position-1 (subordinate clause) and position-3 (main clause) elements simply swap places — the verb of the main clause stays in 2nd position of the whole sentence, immediately after the comma:

• Ich gehe nicht ins Büro, weil ich krank bin. → I'm not going to the office because I'm sick.
• Weil ich krank bin, gehe ich nicht ins Büro. → Because I'm sick, I'm not going to the office.

A sentence can never start with a subordinating connector in main-clause (verb-second) word order — weil/da/ obwohl/etc. always force verb-final order in their own clause, even at the very start of a sentence.

Two-object word order (Dativ + Akkusativ)

When a clause has two objects (a Dativ "person" object and an Akkusativ "thing" object), German fixes their order by whether each object is a noun or a pronoun:

Both objects are...	Order	Example
nouns	N–D–A (Dativ before Akkusativ)	Die Lehrerin erklärt den Kindern die Aufgabe. — The teacher explains the task to the children.
pronouns	N–A–D (order flips: Akkusativ before Dativ)	Sie erklärt sie ihnen. — She explains it to them.
one noun, one pronoun	pronoun always first, regardless of case	Die Lehrerin erklärt ihnen die Aufgabe. / Die Lehrerin erklärt sie den Kindern.

Memory aid: nominative is always first. For two nouns think "person before thing" (N-D-A). For a mixed noun/pronoun pair, "pronoun before noun" overrides the usual D-A order.

Word order with separable verbs, modals, and Partizip II

Across every connector discussed below, one rule never changes: whatever sits at the "true end" of a clause (separable-verb particle, bare infinitive after a modal, or Partizip II in a perfect tense) stays bundled at the very end, and a subordinating connector just pushes the conjugated verb/auxiliary to join it there. E.g. ..., weil ich mein Handy aufzuladen vergessen hatte — the whole verb cluster (aufzuladen vergessen hatte) sits together at the clause's end; only hatte is "the conjugated verb" that moved.

weil / da / deshalb / darum / deswegen / trotzdem / obwohl

This whole group expresses reason or contrast, and every mistake here comes down to verb position. Decide which family a connector belongs to, then apply that family's word order.

weil and da — "because" (subordinating, verb-final)

Both trigger a Nebensatz: the conjugated verb goes to the end of the clause.

• Ich gehe nicht ins Büro, weil ich krank bin. → I'm not going to the office because I'm sick.
• Ich gehe nicht ins Büro, da ich krank bin. → same meaning, with da instead of weil.
• Fronted: Da ich krank bin, gehe ich nicht ins Büro. → Because I'm sick, I'm not going to the office.

weil vs. da, usage notes: da is considered the slightly more advanced/formal choice, but da is also riskier in spoken practice because da has three unrelated senses (locative "there," a meaningless filler, and "because") and can momentarily confuse a listener. If you're not yet confident pushing the verb to the end correctly, denn is a safer fallback — denn means "because" too, but as a coordinating conjunction it keeps normal verb-second order (Ich gehe nicht ins Büro, denn ich bin krank). Once comfortable with Nebensatz word order, mix weil and da freely.

deshalb / darum / deswegen — "that's why" / "therefore" (coordinating, verb-second)

These three are full synonyms, all meaning "that's why" / "as a result," and none of them sends the verb to the end. Instead the connector itself occupies position 1, the conjugated verb stays in position 2, and the subject follows in position 3 (subject and verb effectively swap places compared with normal word order):

• Ich bin krank. Deshalb gehe ich nicht ins Büro. → I am sick. That's why I'm not going to the office.
• Mein Computer ist kaputt, darum kaufe ich einen neuen Laptop. → My computer is broken, that's why I'm buying a new laptop.

Formality: deshalb and darum are both common in everyday speech; darum and deswegen read as slightly more formal in writing. damit is not a plain substitute for any of these three — it has its own separate purpose-clause grammar (see sodass/so...dass/damit below) and should not be swapped in for "that's why."

Punctuation: with deshalb/darum/deswegen (and sodass, see below) you may use either a comma or a full stop between the two clauses — unlike most other connectors, which require a comma.

trotzdem — "still / yet" (coordinating, verb-second)

trotzdem introduces an unexpected consequence — the action happens despite a stated fact. Same word-order family as deshalb: trotzdem (pos. 1) + verb (pos. 2) + subject (pos. 3).

• Ich bin krank. Trotzdem gehe ich ins Büro. → I'm sick. Still, I'm going to the office.
• Ich habe Fieber, trotzdem gehe ich spazieren. → I have a fever; still, I'm going for a walk.

Because trotzdem is a true connector joining two independent clauses, it always needs two separate verbs — one in each clause — and it cannot itself be the very first word of a text with no prior clause to react to.

obwohl — "although" (subordinating, verb-final)

obwohl is a genuine Nebensatz connector: like weil/da, it sends the conjugated verb to the end of its own clause.

• Obwohl ich krank bin, gehe ich ins Büro. → Although I'm sick, I'm going to the office.
• Er hat kein Geld. → Obwohl er kein Geld hat, kauft er ein neues Handy. → Although he has no money, he's buying a new phone.

obwohl vs. trotzdem — the conceptual difference:

• obwohl expresses the reason/fact behind a surprising outcome — it answers "what fact makes this surprising?" and lives in the clause stating that fact.
• trotzdem expresses the action/consequence itself — what actually happens despite that fact — and lives in its own independent clause.

Both describe the same contrary-to-expectation situation from two different grammatical angles, and the same underlying fact pair can normally be re-expressed with either one.

⚠️ Never combine obwohl + trotzdem in the same sentence

Because they express the same contrast logically, using both together is redundant and wrong — pick one:

• ❌ Obwohl ich die Prüfung nicht bestanden habe, trotzdem habe ich die Motivation.
• ✅ Obwohl ich die Prüfung nicht bestanden habe, habe ich die Motivation. → Although I haven't passed the exam, I still have the motivation.
• ✅ Ich habe die Prüfung nicht bestanden, trotzdem habe ich die Motivation. → I haven't passed the exam; still, I have the motivation.

Choosing the right connector for the logical relationship

It's not just a word-order decision — the connector also has to match the logic of the two facts:

• If the relationship is a plain cause→effect ("only X because of Y," no real surprise), prefer weil/da/ deshalb/darum, even where obwohl would be grammatically possible to force in.
• If the relationship is genuinely a contrast ("X happened despite Y"), use obwohl or trotzdem.
• A sentence that just states two facts with no causal or contrastive link doesn't need any of these connectors forced onto it — check that the logic actually holds before picking a connector (e.g. "she is very tired, although it's late" is not a real contrast — tiredness is a consequence of lateness, not a surprise against it).

sodass / so...dass / damit — Result, Emphasis, and Purpose

These three constructions are easy to confuse because all three can gloss loosely as "so...that" in English — but they express three different things.

sodass (also written so dass) — "that's why" / "as a result" (subordinating)

sodass is a synonym of deshalb: same meaning ("that's why"/"as a result"), but with different word order — sodass is subordinating, so it sends the conjugated verb to the end of its clause, whereas deshalb keeps the verb at position 2.

• Ich habe viel geübt, deshalb habe ich die Prüfung bestanden. → I practiced a lot, that's why I passed the exam. (deshalb + verb 2nd: habe)
• Ich habe viel geübt, sodass ich die Prüfung bestanden habe. → I practiced a lot, so that I passed the exam. (sodass + verb at the end: habe)

Only the verb that was originally in position 2 moves to the end when converting deshalb → sodass; any verb already at the end (e.g. a Partizip II already glued to its auxiliary) doesn't move twice — it's the conjugated auxiliary that relocates.

⚠️ The single biggest trap with sodass: it does not mean English "so that" in the sense of purpose ("I'm learning German so that I can move to Germany"). That is a completely different grammar topic — see damit, below. sodass only ever means "with the result that," never "in order that."

so ... dass — emphatic "so [adjective] that..." (subordinating)

Here so sits directly before an adjective or adverb to emphasize its intensity, and dass opens its own clause with the verb pushed to the end. This is structurally different from the single connector sodass, even though both can loosely gloss with "so" in English.

• Es war so kalt, dass ich nicht spazieren gehen konnte. → It was so cold that I couldn't go for a walk.
• Die Aussicht ist so schön, dass ich nicht nach Hause gehen will. → The view is so beautiful that I don't want to go home.
• Viele Handys sind so teuer, dass ich mehr Geld ausgeben muss. → Many phones are so expensive that I have to spend more money.

Test for telling sodass and so...dass apart: try converting the sentence into a deshalb-style "that's why" paraphrase. If the meaning survives, you have a result clause (sodass/deshalb family). If it doesn't — e.g. "The view is beautiful, that's why I don't want to go home" changes the sense of the original "so beautiful that..." — you're dealing with the emphatic so...dass construction instead.

damit — purpose clause, "in order that / so that" (subordinating)

damit introduces a purpose — the goal someone is trying to achieve — and is the correct translation of English "so that" used in the purpose sense. It sends the verb to the end of its clause like any subordinating connector.

• Ich lerne Deutsch, damit ich in Deutschland arbeiten kann. → I'm learning German so that I can work in Germany. (purpose, not result)
• Compare: Ich habe viel gelernt, sodass ich die Prüfung bestanden habe. (result: studying caused passing) vs. Ich lerne viel, damit ich die Prüfung bestehe. (purpose: studying is in order to pass).

Rule of thumb for telling all three apart:

• Stating a result/consequence that already happened or follows automatically → sodass (= deshalb, just verb-final).
• Emphasizing how much/how strong a quality is, with the consequence following from that intensity → so + adjective/adverb ... dass.
• Stating someone's goal/intention behind an action → damit.

trotz vs. trotzdem vs. wegen

A second, very common confusion: trotzdem is a connector joining two clauses, while trotz and wegen are genitive prepositions that only ever affect the noun phrase right after them.

trotzdem (connector) vs. trotz (genitive preposition)

Both translate roughly as "despite," but they work completely differently:

• trotzdem joins two separate clauses, each with its own verb — a sentence is never complete without a verb, so two linked clauses need two verbs.
  • Wir hatten einen Unfall. Trotzdem haben wir den Ausflug genossen. → We had an accident. Despite that, we enjoyed the trip. (two verbs: hatten, haben...genossen)
• trotz is a single-clause genitive preposition — like any preposition, it only governs the next noun phrase, leaving verb position untouched. Only one verb is needed because there's only one clause.
  • Trotz des Unfalls haben wir den Ausflug genossen. → Despite the accident, we enjoyed the trip. (der Unfall → masculine → des Unfalls)
  • Trotz der Gefahr fahre ich gerne Ski. → Despite the danger, I like skiing. (die Gefahr → feminine → der Gefahr)
  • Trotz der schlechten Vorbereitung habe ich die Prüfung bestanden. → Despite the bad preparation, I passed the exam. (genitive adjective ending -en: der schlechten Vorbereitung)

wegen — "because of / due to" (genitive preposition)

wegen behaves exactly like trotz grammatically (genitive, single noun phrase, no effect on verb position), but means "because of." Compare it to the connector weil, which needs two full clauses:

• weil (connector, two clauses): Ich gehe nicht ins Büro, weil ich krank bin.
• wegen (preposition, one noun phrase, often a nominalized verb): Wegen des Regens bleibe ich zu Hause. → Because of the rain, I'm staying home. (der Regen → masculine → des Regens)
• Wegen der Kälte bleibe ich zu Hause. → Due to the cold, I'm staying home. (die Kälte → feminine → der Kälte)
• Wegen des schlechten Wetters gehen wir nicht aus. → Due to the bad weather, we're not going out. (das Wetter → neuter → des Wetters)

wegen/trotz + personal pronoun → falls back to Dativ

German has no genitive personal-pronoun table (only Nominativ/Akkusativ/Dativ columns exist), so when wegen (or trotz) would need to attach to a personal pronoun, it borrows the dative form instead, since there is no genitive alternative:

• Wegen dir habe ich die Prüfung bestanden. → Because of you, I passed the exam. (dir = dative of du)
• Wegen ihm habe ich einen Job bekommen. → Because of him, I got a job. (ihm = dative)

⚠️ Native speakers are sometimes heard using wegen + dative even with ordinary nouns in casual speech, but for the exam stick to wegen/trotz + genitive for nouns, and only fall back to dative when a genitive personal pronoun is structurally impossible (i.e., only with pronouns).

nachdem / bevor / seit / während / bis — Tense-Sequencing for Past Actions

This family of subordinating time-connectors links two clauses describing actions in time relative to each other. All of them send the verb to the end of their own clause; the hard part is choosing the right connector and the right tense in each clause.

Deciding which connector to use

First ask: are the two actions sequential (one happens, then the other) or simultaneous (both happen at the same time)? Then ask which one happens first, and in what tense.

Connector	Meaning	Use when...
nachdem	after	the nachdem-clause's action happens first, strictly before the main clause's action
bevor	before	one action happens before another, in sequence (mirror image of nachdem)
während	while / during	two actions happen in parallel, truly at the same time
seit / seitdem	since	an ongoing state or action began at a point in the past and continues
bis	until / up to the point that	an action continues up until another action/point happens

bevor and während are often confused because both can be grammatically valid in the same sentence skeleton — the deciding factor is always the intended meaning (sequence vs. simultaneity), not grammar alone. Watch for context clues: a sentence about someone being neugierig (curious) implies he checks messages before leaving (bevor), not while walking (während), even though während is grammatically possible there too.

nachdem: the core rule and the two valid tense ladders

nachdem always attaches to the clause describing the action that happened first — never the later one. This mirrors English "after," which also attaches to the earlier event ("After I had eaten dinner, I went for a walk" → "after" goes with "had eaten dinner").

nachdem requires two different tenses — one clause must be a "tense-step" further into the past than the other. You cannot write both clauses in the same tense, and you cannot skip a step. Only these pairings are valid:

1. Plusquamperfekt (nachdem-clause) → Präsens (main clause)
2. Präteritum or Perfekt (nachdem-clause) → Präsens (main clause) — Präteritum and Perfekt are treated as interchangeable here.
3. Plusquamperfekt (nachdem-clause) → Präteritum or Perfekt (main clause) — when both clauses describe past events, the earlier one still has to be one step further back (Plusquamperfekt) than the later one.

Worked examples:

• Nachdem sie ihre Großeltern besucht hat, kommt sie zurück nach Hause. → After she has visited her grandparents, she comes back home. (Perfekt → Präsens)
• Nachdem mein Opa seine Brille gesucht hatte, las er die Zeitung. → After my grandfather had looked for his glasses, he read the newspaper. (Plusquamperfekt → Präteritum)
• Maxime besuchte seinen besten Freund, nachdem dieser mit seiner Frau Streit gehabt hatte. → Maxime visited his best friend after the latter had had a fight with his wife. (main clause Präteritum → nachdem-clause Plusquamperfekt)
• Nachdem Luca Vater geworden ist, unternimmt er etwas mit seiner Familie. → After Luca became a father, he does things with his family. (Perfekt → Präsens)
• Nachdem ich meine ganze Hausaufgabe gemacht hatte, ging ich mit meinen Freunden ins Kino. → After I had done all my homework, I went to the cinema with my friends. (Plusquamperfekt → Präteritum/Perfekt, either accepted for the second clause)

⚠️ Future tense with nachdem is not used at B1 — even though it's grammatically possible and shows up informally elsewhere, the exam only expects the past→present (or past→past) ladders above.

Word order tip: nachdem can sit at the start or in the middle of the sentence, but starting with nachdem is recommended — it keeps the tense sequence in a predictable order (past tense first, then present) and mirrors how English speakers naturally phrase "after" sentences. Separable verbs and Partizip II stay bundled together at the end of the nachdem-clause, as in any subordinate clause.

bevor, während, seit, bis — illustrative examples

• Florian kommt nach Hause, bevor das Essen fertig ist. → Florian comes home before dinner is finished. (sequence: arriving happens before dinner finishes)
• Weil er neugierig ist, liest er die Nachrichten und chattet noch, bevor er nach Hause geht. → Because he's curious, he reads messages and still chats before going home.
• Seit sie zu Hause ist, liegt sie auf dem Sofa. → Since she's been home, she's been lying on the sofa. (ongoing state, started in the past, continues)
• Mein Kollege ist seit gestern in guter Stimmung. → My colleague has been in a good mood since yesterday. (seit + Dativ)
• Bis er mit der Arbeit fertig ist, hat er schon über zwanzig Nachrichten bekommen. → By the time he's done with the work, he had already received more than twenty messages. (note: nachdem does not fit here, because the clauses mix tenses without a clean "first this, then that" sequence — bis is the correct fit)
• A genuinely simultaneous pair of actions ("happening together," zusammen) takes während, not bevor — e.g. someone talking on the phone während others are studying nearby.
• während as preposition (not connector): während des Telefonierens → "during the phone call" — note this is a different grammatical role from während as a subordinating connector ("while"); don't mix the two uses up.

Doppelkonnektoren (Double Connectors)

Double connectors are one of the highest-value upgrades for the Schreiben/Ausdruck exam: writing with none of them "looks like A1/A2," while using them well is explicitly called out as the difference between a 60–80/100 essay and an 85–90+ one. There are six; three take a comma, three do not.

Connector	Meaning	Comma?	Polarity
nicht nur ... sondern auch	not only ... but also	✅ before sondern	both positive/equal
sowohl ... als auch	as well as	❌	both positive/equal
weder ... noch	neither ... nor	❌	both negative
einerseits ... andererseits	on the one hand ... on the other hand	❌ (each half is its own clause)	contrast
zwar ... aber	indeed ... but	✅ before aber	contrast
entweder ... oder	either ... or	❌	alternatives

1. nicht nur ... sondern auch

Comma is compulsory before sondern. Use it as an upgrade over plain und when both halves carry equal, positive weight. nicht nur is flexible in position (start, middle, or after the subject).

• Ich lerne nicht nur Deutsch, sondern auch Spanisch. → I'm not only learning German but also Spanish.
• Er möchte nicht nur zu Hause bleiben, sondern auch fernsehen. → He'd like not only to stay home but also to watch TV. (shared subject/modal er möchte is not repeated in the second clause)
• Wir sind nicht nur nach Paris gefahren, sondern haben auch viele Sachen gekauft. → We not only went to Paris but also bought a lot of things. (different auxiliaries — sind vs. haben — so nothing can be dropped; both full verb phrases must be written out)

Rule of thumb: identical subject+verb in both halves → may drop the repeat in the second half. Different subject/verb/auxiliary → write both halves out in full.

2. sowohl ... als auch

Same meaning as nicht nur...sondern auch (both halves positive, no contrast). No comma. Considered harder to use correctly — if unsure, default to nicht nur...sondern auch instead.

• Er trinkt sowohl Kaffee als auch Tee. → He drinks coffee as well as tea.
• Ich bin sowohl an Kunst als auch an Musik interessiert. → I'm interested in both art and music.
• Sie sind sowohl nach Italien als auch nach Deutschland gefahren. → They went both to Italy and to Germany. (repeated subject+verb dropped in the second clause)

3. weder ... noch

Both halves are negative — useful for listing disadvantages. No comma. noch usually sits in third position (after the verb), weder near the start.

⚠️ Because weder...noch already carries negative meaning, never add an extra nicht or kein anywhere in the sentence — that would double-negate.

• Ich mache weder die Hausaufgaben noch lerne ich die Vokabeln. → I'm doing neither the homework nor learning the vocab.
• Sie spricht weder zu schnell noch zu langsam. → She speaks neither too fast nor too slow.

4. einerseits ... andererseits

Expresses contrast — one positive point and one negative point (or two opposing sides) about the same subject, instead of listing all advantages then all disadvantages in two separate blocks. Either half can open the sentence; each half keeps its own explicit subject (no obligatory dropping here).

• Einerseits finde ich sie ganz nett, andererseits kann sie manchmal nervig sein. → On the one hand I find her quite nice, on the other hand she can be annoying sometimes.

Along with nicht nur...sondern auch, this is flagged as one of the two most important double connectors to master: use nicht nur...sondern auch as the default replacement for und, and einerseits...andererseits as the default way to express contrast.

5. zwar ... aber

An alternative to einerseits...andererseits for the same positive/negative contrast pattern. aber always takes a comma before it.

⚠️ Key exception to the subject-dropping pattern: with aber, the subject must be repeated in the second clause even when identical to the first — this is the opposite of nicht nur...sondern auch.

• ✅ Ich finde Mathe zwar langweilig, aber ich finde das Lösen einfacher. → I find math indeed boring, but I find solving it easier. (ich must reappear after the comma)
• ❌ Ich finde Mathe zwar langweilig, aber finde das Lösen einfacher. (dropping the subject after aber is wrong, even though it would be fine with other connectors)
• Mein Zimmer ist zwar klein, aber es ist gemütlich. → My room is indeed small, but it's cozy.

6. entweder ... oder

Offers alternatives. No comma.

• Ich lerne entweder Deutsch oder Spanisch. → I'll either learn German or Spanish.
• Er kann entweder zu Hause bleiben oder ins Restaurant gehen. → He can either stay home or go to the restaurant.

Register note

Double connectors are appropriate to use freely in essays/opinion pieces (Ausdruck). In a formal letter/email they can sound unnatural — prefer außerdem ("moreover," triggers inverted word order: verb immediately after außerdem, no separate subject slot before it) as the main alternative to und in formal correspondence instead.

je...desto / je...umso — "The More... The More"

Recommended explicitly as a strong closing sentence for a Schreiben/Ausdruck opinion piece — it reliably demonstrates advanced grammar right where first/last impressions weigh most with the grader. (Advice from class: only use it if you're confident it's correct — an incorrect closing sentence is worse than no je...desto sentence at all.)

Structure

• je introduces a Nebensatz → verb goes to the end.
• desto or its exact synonym umso (interchangeable) introduces the Hauptsatz → verb goes to 2nd position, immediately after desto/umso + the comparative adjective.
• Both clauses must use the comparative form of an adjective (mehr, besser, schneller, früher, ...) — this is mandatory, not optional.
• The Hauptsatz's truth is dependent on the je-clause: "the more/-er X happens, the more/-er Y happens."

Worked examples

• Je schneller ich fahre, desto früher erreiche ich [das Ziel]. → The faster I drive, the earlier I arrive. (je-clause verb last: fahre; Hauptsatz verb 2nd: erreiche)
• Je schneller ich fahre, desto früher kann ich [es] erreichen. → with a modal: kann takes 2nd position after desto, and the main verb erreichen goes to the end, as in any clause with a modal verb.
• Je mehr Autos ich für meine Familie kaufe, desto mehr Geld muss ich ausgeben. → The more cars I buy for my family, the more money I have to spend.
• Je schwierigere Aufgaben die Studenten bekommen, desto mehr Zeit brauchen sie. → The more difficult tasks the students get, the more time they need. (schwierig → comparative schwieriger; because it stands directly before a noun with no article, it takes the article-less adjective ending: schwierigere)
• Je langweiliger die Arbeit ist, umso langsamer vergeht die Zeit. → The more boring the work is, the more slowly time passes.
• Je größer eine Firma ist, desto leichter bekommt sie von der Bank einen Kredit. → The bigger a company is, the more easily it gets a loan from the bank.

Invariable comparatives: mehr never takes an adjective ending

mehr is one of a small set of adjectives that never take an adjective ending, even directly before a noun — along with prima, rosa, lila. So mehr Autos is always correct; a form like mehreren Autos in this sense is wrong. This contrasts with ordinary comparatives like schwieriger above, which do take normal adjective endings when placed before a noun.

Suggested closing sentences for common Schreiben topics

• Digitalisierung: Je mehr man digitale Medien nutzt, desto mehr werden klassische Lehrmethoden ersetzt.
• Umwelt/öffentliche Verkehrsmittel: Je mehr man öffentliche Verkehrsmittel nutzt, desto mehr schützt man die Umwelt.
• Sport: Je mehr Sport man treibt, desto gesünder wird man.

Notes & Tips (Exam-Relevant Recap)

• Classify any unfamiliar connector by verb position alone: verb 2nd → coordinating (deshalb, darum, deswegen, trotzdem, und, aber, oder, denn); verb final → subordinating (weil, da, dass, wenn, ob, obwohl, sodass, damit, nachdem, bevor, seit, während, bis).
• Never combine obwohl + trotzdem in one sentence — pick one, they're logically redundant.
• sodass ≠ "so that" (purpose) — sodass means "as a result"; purpose is damit. so...dass (with an adjective/adverb wedged in) is yet a third, separate construction for emphasizing intensity.
• trotz/wegen are genitive prepositions (one clause, one verb, only the next noun phrase changes case); trotzdem/weil are connectors (two clauses, two verbs). Don't confuse "despite" the preposition with "despite that" the connector.
• nachdem needs two different, correctly-sequenced tenses — never the same tense in both clauses, never a skipped step, never future tense at this level.
• bevor vs. während is a logic call (sequential vs. simultaneous), not just a grammar call — both can be grammatically valid in the same skeleton sentence, so check the intended meaning.
• Doppelkonnektoren comma rule: nicht nur...sondern auch and zwar...aber take a comma; sowohl...als auch, weder...noch, and entweder...oder do not.
• zwar...aber is the one double connector that requires the subject to be repeated after the second part, even when most other connectors allow dropping a repeated subject/verb.
• je...desto/umso always pairs a verb-final je-clause with a verb-second desto/umso-clause, and both adjectives must be in the comparative — except mehr/prima/rosa/lila, which never take an adjective ending at all.

Source Videos

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