German has relatively flexible word order — certain grammar elements (cases & declensions) make this possible. It seems tricky, but follows structured rules.
Regular Word Order
Regular word order in German follows the “SVO” or “Subject-Verb-Object” pattern. The key rule, however, is “verb-second”: in a statement, the conjugated verb is always the second element. This means that, in regular word order, the three main components of a sentence follow the SVO pattern.
Example:
Der Hund frisst das Futter. / The dog eats the food.
S – V – O
In this example, the dog (der Hund) is the subject, which performs the verb (eats / frisst) on the direct object (the food / das Futter). An object is a direct object when it receives the action of the verb. In other words, the direct object is being “verbed”: the food is being eaten. To help identify the direct object in a sentence, you can ask the question, “What is being verbed?” (e.g. eaten, played, etc.; “Was wird gegessen/gespielt?”). The answer to the question is your direct object.
Example:
Das Mädchen spielt die Gitarre. / The girl plays the guitar.
S – V – O
In the above sentence, das Mädchen (the girl) is the subject of the sentence, “spielt” (plays) is the verb, and the answer to “What is being verbed/played?” is the guitar. Hence, “die Gitarre” is the (direct) object of the sentence.
This is referred to as regular, normal or natural word order.
Inverted Word Order
In German, it is common to place other elements in a sentence, such as adverbs of time, manner and place, in first position in order to create emphasis. In English that does not always work, and sometimes sounds awkward. In German, placing anything other than the subject in first position creates inverted word order.
Inverted word order is when the subject slips behind the verb in the sentence. All direct questions in German follow inverted word order.
Example: Ich gehe heute zum Supermarkt. / I am going to the grocery store today.
(regular word order).
Heute gehe ich zum Supermarkt. / Today, I am going to the grocery store.
(inverted word order)
In the above example, the adverb of time (Heute) is in the first or “front” position in the sentence, which lends it some emphasis. Note that the comma after “Today” disappears in the German, as commas are not used to set off the first element of the sentence.
Notice how the subject (ich) slipped behind the verb (gehe).
Unlike in English, the time, manner, and place elements precede the object (direct or indirect) in a sentence, which is why the order in the German example differs from the English one above. Here is a sentence with all three elements in the predicate.
Example:
Ich esse jeden Tag schnell zu Hause Pizza. / I eat pizza every day quickly at home.
If any of the elements before the object (pizza) is moved to first position, the verb stays in second position, the subject moves behind it, and everything else stays in the same order. Here are the possible variations:
Jeden Tag esse ich schnell zu Hause Pizza. / Every day I eat pizza quickly at home.
Schnell esse ich jeden Tag zu Hause Pizza. / Quickly I eat pizza every day at home.
Zu Hause esse ich jeden Tag schnell Pizza. / At home I eat pizza every day quickly.
The important thing to remember is that the verb is in second position, with either the subject or the adverb in first position and the other (subject, adverb, etc.) in third position. Elements of time, manner, and place are added after in that sequence, unless an element is moved to the front position of the sentence, as illustrated by the examples above.