In our last article, we learned what adverbial clauses are: They are subordinate clauses that add information about the place, the time, the reason, and the purpose etc. of the action to the main clause.
In our last article, we looked at the following categories of adverbial clauses: temporal clauses, causal clauses, conditional clauses, and final clauses. In this article, we’ll cover the remaining types of adverbial clauses.
Consecutive Clause
The term consecutive derives from the Latin word consecutio, meaning consequence. In terms of their meaning, consecutive clauses (Konsekutivsätze) are the counterpart to causal clauses: while causal clauses express the cause, consecutive clauses indicate the consequence. Often the same situation can be described using either a causal or a consecutive clause:
- Der Lehrer spricht sehr schnell, so dass ihn niemand versteht.
(The teacher speaks very fast, so nobody understands him.) - Weil der Lehrer sehr schnell spricht, versteht ihn niemand.
(Because the teacher speaks very fast, nobody understands him.)
Consecutive clauses are usually introduced with the conjunctions dass, sodass, and so dass. Subordinate clauses that describe the absence of a consequence are also considered consective clauses. The lack of a consequence can be expressed, for example, with ohne dass. Here are a few examples:
- Die Lehrerin spricht langsam genug, dass sie alle verstehen.
(The teacher speaks slowly enough, so everyone understands her.) - Die Kinder spielen stundenlang, ohne dass sie müde werden.
(The children are playing for hours without getting tired.) - Er hat sich beeilt, sodass / so dass er den Bus noch erwischt hat.
(He hurried, so he caught the bus.)
In contrast to final clauses, consectuvie clauses don’t express the intended purpose, but the actual consequence – regardless of whether the consequence was intended or not.
Concessive Clause
The word concessive comes from the Latin term concessio, which means concession. A concessive clause (Konzessivsatz) states a fact that would suggest the opposite of the main clause.
Concessive clauses are often introduced by obwohl; other possible conjunctions are auch wenn, wenn … auch, selbst wenn, and wenngleich. Here are a few examples:
- Obwohl er schon vierzig ist, lebt er noch bei seinen Eltern.
(Although he’s already forty, he still lives with his parents.) - Wenn sie auch sehr streng ist, mag ich meine Deutschlehrerin.
(Even though she’s very strinct, I like my German teacher.) - Sie raucht überall, auch wenn es verboten ist.
(She smokes everywhere even if it’s forbidden.) - Selbst wenn wir ein Taxi nehmen, werden wir zu spät kommen.
(Even if we take a taxi, we’ll arrive late.)
The event of the main clause occurs even if one would not expect it based on the concessive clause.
Adversative Clause
The term adversative means opposed; an adversative clause (Adversativsatz) indicates a contrast.
Adversative clauses are usually introduced by the conjunctions während, anstatt dass, wohingegen, or wogegen. Here are a few examples:
- Meine Mutter ist Polizistin, wogegen / wohingegen mein Vater als Lehrer arbeitet.
(My mother is a police officer, whereas my father works as a teacher.) - Anstatt dass du auch einmal etwas tust, überlässt du mir die ganze Arbeit.
(Rather than doing something yourself for once, you let me do all the work.) - Meinem Opa gefällt der Film, während ich ihn langweilig finde.
(My grandpa likes the film, while I find it boring.) - Während ich mich um die Kinder kümmere, spielst du nur auf deinem Handy.
(While I take care of the childen, you only play on your phone.)
As während can also introduce either a temporal clause or an adversative clause, some sentences are ambiguous. In the fourth sentence, for example, it’s not clear if the speaker wants to express the sumultaneity of the two actions or the contrast between the subjects ich and du. The third sentence, on the other hand, is clearly adversative, as a temporal interpretation wouldn’t make sense.
Modal Clause
The term modal comes from the Latin word modus, meaning manner or mode. So, a modal clause (Modalsatz) indicates how or with what method the action of the main clause is carried out.
Common conjunctions for modal clauses are indem, wie, als ob, and ohne dass. Here are a few examples:
- Ich lerne viele neue Wörter, indem ich Bücher lese.
(I learn many new words by reading books.) - Sie machen das Gericht, wie es im Rezept steht.
(They prepare the meal like it says in the recipe.) - Er fährt, als ob er betrunken wäre.
(He’s driving as if he were drunk.) - Er hat das Geld genommen, ohne dass es jemand gemerkt hat.
(He took the money without anyone noticing.)
There’s a partial overlap between modal clauses and consecutive clauses, as expressing the result of an action often implies the way the action was carried out.
Comparative Clause
The term comparative comes from the Latin word comparatio, meaning comparison. A comparative clause (Komparativsatz) makes a comparison to what is expressed in the main clause.
Often, you’ll find the conjunctions wie and als as well as the two-part conjunction je … desto to introduce the comparative clause. Here are a few examples:
- Seine Freundin ist nicht so hübsch, wie ich erwartet habe.
(His girlfriend isn’t as pretty as I expected.) - Seine Freundin ist hübscher, als ich erwartet habe.
(His girlfriend is prettier than I expected.) - Je schneller wir fahren, desto früher kommen wir an.
(The faster we go, the earlier we’ll arrive.) - Die Lehrerin erklärt das Thema anders, als es im Buch steht.
(The teacher explains the topic differently from what it says in the book.)
Local Clause
The term local derives from locus, which is the Latin word for place. Local clauses (Lokalsätze) are introduced by the relative adverbs wo, woher, and wohin.
- Ich möchte leben, wo meine Freunde sind.
(I want to live where my friends are.) - Er fährt zurück, woher er gekommen ist.
(He’s going back to where he came from.) - Ich gehe, wohin du gehst.
(I’m going where you are going.)
Local clauses look exactly the same as indirect questions, but have a different function in the sentence. Compare these two sentencess:
- Ich möchte leben, wo meine Freunde sind.
(I want to live where my friends are.) - Ich möchte wissen, wo meine Freunde sind.
(I want to know where my friends are.)
The subordinate clause of the first sentence indicates the place of the action leben and serves as an adverbial of place in the main clause. if the adverbial of place (Lokaladverbial) is expressed through a subordinate clause, it’s called local clause. You could replace the local adverbial with the adverb of place dort:
Ich möchte dort leben.
(I want to live there.)
In the second sentence, on the other hand, the subordinate clause serves as the object of wissen and indicates what the speaker would like to know – and not where the action should take place. As an object, the subordinate clause can be replaced by the demonstrative pronoun das or the personal pronoun es, but not by the adverb of place dort:
Ich möchte das wissen.
(I want to know that.)
Ich möchte es wissen.
(I want to know it.)Ich möchte dort wissen.(I want to know there.)
Since it’s not possible to replace the subordinate clause with dort, it can not be an adverbial of place.
Summary
This and the last article article gave an overview of the different kinds of adverbial clauses. They are: temporal clause, causal clause, conditional clause, final clause, consecutive clause, concessive clause, adversative clause, modal clause, comparative clause, and local clause.
As some examples have shown, the boundaries between the categories are not always clear and there are sometimes overlaps. But this isn’t a problem for practical language use: You can use subordinate clauses in your daily interactions without being able to categorize them. 😊
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