Conjunctions consisting of more than one part
There are a few conjunctions which consist of more than one part. They
can be divided into two main groups:- Coordinating conjunctionssuch as entweder... oder ‘either... or’,
sowohl... als (auch) ‘as well as’:
Ich fahre entwederin die Stadt oderich bleibe zu Hause.
Either I’m going into town or I’m staying at home.
Sie studierte sowohlin Leipzig als auchin Cambridge.
She studied in Leipzig as well as in Cambridge.
In these structures the finite verb remains the second element. - Subordinating conjunctionswhich introduce a subordinate clause where
the finite verb is usually sent to the end. They includeals ob‘as if ’, so
dass‘so that’, je... desto‘the... the’:
Es sah so aus, als obes regnen würde.
It looked as if it might rain.
Es war schon spät, so dasser ein Taxi nach Hause nehmen musste.
It was late so he had to take a taxi home.
When using je... desto, note that jeintroduces a subordinate clause
whiledestofunctions as a coordinating conjunction:
Jelänger du in Madrid lebst, destobesser wirst du Spanisch
sprechen.
The longer you stay in Madrid the better you will speak Spanish.
Use of commas
As mentioned above, a comma must be used to separate a subordinate
clause from a main clause. This is compulsory in German.
Also note that commas are usually placed before the coordinating
conjunctionsaber,dennandsondern.- For more information on main and subordinate clauses, see
Unit 19.
138 Unit 18: Conjunctions and clauses