German Grammar A–Z
Look up German grammar topics A–Z, organized by category and level — with clear explanations and examples.
Consecutive Clauses (Konsekutivsatz)
A result clause (Konsekutivsatz) is a subordinate clause used to express the result or consequence of an action that has happened in the past. Result clauses (Konsekutivsatz) are formed with the conjunction "sodass". The clause with "sodass" is a "special" subordinate clause (Nebensatz) that we need to pay attention to when learning German. In today's article we will explore what makes this clause "special".
1. The main clause (Hauptsatz) must come before the subordinate clause (Nebensatz) in order to emphasize the result/consequence of some action or event.
Example:
“Er hat jeden Tag sechzehn Stunden gearbeitet, sodass er krank wurde.“
(He worked 16 hours every day, so that he became ill.)
2. "so" and "dass" can be separated. In that case, "so" can be placed before an adjective in the main clause:
“Es war so trocken, dass viele Flüsse und Seen austrockneten.”
(It was so dry that many rivers and lakes dried up.)
This case is more commonly used. However, "so" and "dass" can only be separated if there is an adjective that is a key component of the main clause and that influences the result in the subordinate clause. Consider the example:
„Ich habe vergessen meine schönen Blumen zu gießen, sodass ich mir jetzt neue Blumen kaufen muss.“
(I forgot to water my beautiful flowers, so now I have to buy new flowers.)
⇒ Here "schön" is an adjective, but "schön" only modifies the noun "Blumen" in the main clause. If "schön" is removed, it does not affect the subordinate clause "sodass ich mir jetzt neue Blumen kaufen muss" at all, so "sodass" cannot be split up.
3. A result clause with "sodass" can be replaced by result clauses with adverbs of result such as: „also“, „daher“, „darum“, „deswegen“, „deshalb“, „folglich“, „infolgedessen“.
- When combined with adverbs of result, the result clause is separated into its own sentence. The adverbs can stand in position 1 or position 3.
|
Hauptsatz 1 |
Hauptsatz 2 |
||
|
Position 1 |
Verb |
Ende |
|
|
Der Sommer war viel zu heiß. |
Infolgedessen |
starben |
viele ältere Menschen. |
|
Es gab viel zu wenig Wasser. |
Viele Pflanzen |
gingen |
deshalb ein. |
|
Es fielen keine Niederschläge. |
Folglich |
kam |
es vielerorts zu Waldbränden. |
|
Der Sommer war sehr trocken. |
Daher |
trockneten |
viele Flüsse und Seen aus. |
4. In addition, a result clause with "sodass" can be replaced by a Präposition-Nomen structure such as: "infolge" + Genitiv or "infolge von" + Dativ:
“ Es war so heiß, dass viele Wälder brannten.”
(It was so hot that many forests caught fire.)
= Infolge der großen Hitze brannten viele Wälder.
