Adverbial clauses (Adverbialsätze) are subordinate clauses (Nebensätze) that enrich the main clause with information about place, time, cause, purpose, consequence, condition, and similar aspects. Here are a few examples:
- Time: Bevor ich ins Bett gehe, putze ich mir die Zähne.
(Before I go to bed, I brush my teeth.) - Cause: Ich bleibe heute zu Hause, weil ich krank bin.
(Today I’ll stay at home because I’m ill.) - Condition: Wenn du dich nicht beeilst, kommst du zu spät.
(If you don’t hurry up, you’ll be late.)
In this and the next article, you’ll learn about the different types of adverbial clauses. But first, we need to clarify an important question:
What Are Adverbial Clauses?
Adverbial clauses serve as constituents of the main clause, meaning they’re a subcategory of constituent clauses (Gliedsätze). If you’re don’t know what constituent clauses are, we suggest you take a look at our article Types of Subordinate Clauses to familiarize yourself with this concept. That article explains what constituent clauses are and how they differ from other types of subordinate clauses.
As constituents of the main clause, adverbial clauses have a similar function to adverbs or prepositional phrases and can usually be replaced by them:
- Prepositional phrase: Wegen meiner Krankheit bleibe ich heute zu Hause.
(Because of my illness, I’ll stay at home today.) - Adverb: Deshalb bleibe ich heute zu Hause.
(Therefore, I’ll stay at home today.)
The subordinate clause weil ich krank bin (because I’m ill) indicates the reason why the speaker stays at home – just like the prepositional phrase wegen meiner Krankheit (because of my illness) and the adverb deshalb (therefore). In contrast to the subject and the object, this is optional information; even without it, the sentence would be grammatically complete.
A constituent that can be omitted without affecting the grammatical completeness of the sentence is known as an adverbial (Adverbial or adverbiale Bestimmung). If the adverbial is expressed with a subordinate clause, it’s referred to as an adverbial clause.
Adverbial clauses can be divided into different categories based on their meaning. The following sections provide an overview of the most important classes of adverbial clauses.
Temporal Clause
The term temporal is derived from tempus, the Latin word for time. A temporal clause (Temporalsatz) is a subordinate clause that indicates the temporal relationship between two actions: the action of the subordinate clause and the action of the main clause.
Temporal clauses can be introduced by various conjunctions, each expressing a different temporal relationship:
- als: used for finished events in the past
Als ich ein Kind war, spielte ich oft Fußball.
(When I was I child, I often played soccer.) - wenn: used for general statements, repeated events, and future events
Sag Bescheid, wenn du fertig bist.
(Let me know when you’re done.) - während: used for simultaneous events
Ich höre Musik, während ich arbeite.
(I listen to music while I work.) - bevor: used for an event that occurs before another one
Bevor ihr die Lehrerin fragt, sollt ihr selbst nachdenken.
(Before you ask the teacher, you should think for yourself.) - nachdem: used for an event that occurs after another one
Nachdem er sich geduscht hatte, zog er sich an.
(After he had taken a shower, he got dressed.) - seit / seitdem: used for an event that began in the past and continues into the present
Seit / Seitdem er verheiratet ist, hat er wenig Zeit.
(Since he’s been married, he’s had little time.) - bis: used for an event that continues until a specific moment
Ich warte, bis du fertig bist.
(I’ll wait until you’re done.) - sobald: used for an event that occurs immediately after another one
Sobald er ankommt, können wir losfahren.
(As soon as he arrives, we can leave.) - solang / solange: used to indicate the duration of an event
Du kannst bleiben, solang / solange du willst.
(You can stay as long as you want.)
It’s important to note the difference between wenn and als: Both words indicate the moment at which the action in the main clause happens. However, wenn is only used for general statements or future events; for past events you need to use als.
In addition to indicating time, wenn can also be used to express the condition under which an action occurs. We’ll discuss this in the section Conditional Clauses below.
Causal Clause
The term causal comes from the Latin word causa, meaning reason or cause. A causal clause (Kausalsatz) indicates that the event in the main clause is caused by the event in the subordinate clause.
Causal clauses are usually introduced by the conjunctions da or weil, which can be used interchangeably. Here are two example sentences:
- Ich esse Obst, weil / da es gesund ist.
(I eat fruit because it’s healthy.) - Weil / Da es draußen windig ist, bleibe ich zu Hause.
(Because it’s windy outside, I stay at home.)
In some areas, people also use the conjunction nachdem (literally after) in the same way as weil (because), even though there’s no temporal relationship.
Conditional Clause
The term conditional derives from the Latin word conditio, meaning condition. The event of the main clause typically only occurs if the condition of the conditional clause (Konditionalsatz) is met.
The most common conjunctions used to introduce a conditional clause are wenn, falls, sofern, and solange. Here are a few examples:
- Ich freue mich, wenn du kommst.
(I’ll be happy if you come.) - Falls ich Zeit habe, komme ich vorbei.
(If I have time, I’ll come over.) - Sofern das Wetter gut ist, machen wir einen Ausflug.
(Provided the weather is good, we’ll go on a trip.) - Er kann gerne bei uns wohnen, solange er nicht stört.
(He’s welcome to live with us as long as he doesn’t disturb us.)
The four conjunctions can often be used interchangeably, but due to some subtle differences, this is not always the case. We’ll take a closer look at these differences in a future article.
Occasionally, the conditional meaning merges with the temporal aspect, so that the division into temporal clause and conditional clause isn’t always straightforward. The subordinate clause solange er nicht stort (as long as he doesn’t disturb us), for example, expresses both a condition and a time period.
Final Clause
The term final is derived from the Latin word finis, meaning goal or purpose. So, the final clause (Finalsatz) indicates the intention or purpose of the action.
The most common conjunction for final clauses is damit, but dass, sodass, and so dass are also used. Here are a few examples:
- Ich mache Sport, damit ich gesund bleibe.
(I do sport so that I stay healthy.) - Ich trage eine Brille, sodass / so dass ich besser sehen kann.
(I wear glasses so that I can see better.) - Hilf ihm doch, dass er endlich fertig wird!
(Help him so that he’ll finally finish.)
Similar to causal clauses, final clauses express why a particular action takes place. In contrast to causal clauses, however, final clauses do not indicate the cause, but the intended purpose.
Summary
In this article, we learned what adverbial clauses are: They serve as constituents of the main clause, expressing information about time, place, cause etc. This information is optional, so the sentence would be grammatically complete even without the adverbial clause.
Adverbial clauses are categorized based on their meaning. In this article, we covered the following types: temporal clauses, causal clauses, conditional clauses, and final clauses. In the next article, we will look at the remaining categories: consecutive clauses, concessive clauses, adversative clauses, modal clauses, comparative clauses, and locative clauses.
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