© Tobias Woelke 2020
What does the ADUSO rule mean in German?
The ADUSO rule is short for the following conjunctions:
- aber
- denn
- und
- sondern
- oder
What do these conjunctions have in common?
They are called coordinating conjunctions, that is, they connect two main phrases.
These conjunctions occupy the so-called zero position of the phrase, I explain it below with some examples.
This type of conjunctions can also be used in other grammatical contexts.
The conjunctions aber, denn and sondern are always separated by commas when they have coordinating conjunctions function.
For example the word aber can also be used to reinforce a context:
Der Hund ist (aber) sehr groB
Examples of the ADUSO rule in German.
Main phrase Position 0 other main phrase
Klaus trinkt keine Cola, aber er trinkt Limonade
Klaus doesn’t drink Cola, but he drinks lemonade
Klaus trinkt keine Cola, sondern er trinkt Limonade
Klaus doesn’t drink Cola, he drinks lemonade
Peter spielt Tennis und er spielt Basketball
Peter plays tennis and plays basketball
Stefanie schläft, denn sie ist müde
Stefanie sleeps because she’s tired
In the case that the verb or the subject of the two main sentences are identical, they can be omitted in the second main sentence, except for the conjunction “denn”.
Examples:
Peter ist 10 Jahre alt, aber er wiegt schon 100 Kilo
The subject is identical, so you can omit “er” in the second main sentence
Peter ist 10 Jahre alt, aber wiegt schon 100 Kilo
Sabine hat eine Katze und hat einen Hund
The verb “haben” is identical in the two main sentences so it can be omitted:
Sabine hat eine Katze und einen Hund
This has been all about the ADUSO rule in German
Tobias Woelke
