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I am learning the Tekamolo rule but I have a question: What if we have Dativ and Akkusativ objects too ?

For example I have a sentence

Ein Journalist interviewte vor Kurzem Jugendliche auf der Straße

Why Jugendliche here is not after auf der Straße? As far as I know Jugendliche is Akkusativ here.

and another sentence :

Außerdem wollte der Reporter sie gern ins Studio einladen

is ins Studio here Lokal ?

PS: My question is about where to place objects with regard to other sentence words

M4HdYaR
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    Just being curious, what is the Tekamolo rule? – infinitezero Apr 15 '20 at 14:41
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    @infinitezero TeKaMoLo is short for the German words temporal, kausal, modal and lokal. The rule basically says that the order of boxes in a German sentence usually is: Te – ka – mo – lo. when – why – how – where. – M4HdYaR Apr 15 '20 at 14:42
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    The rule already states usually i.e. not always. German is really flexible in terms of sentence structure. – infinitezero Apr 15 '20 at 14:44
  • @infinitezero I know but it is my kursbuch’s example so there should be a reason why akk is not at end of the sentence – M4HdYaR Apr 15 '20 at 14:48
  • Related question, may be duplicate even if for a different scenario. – guidot Apr 15 '20 at 14:51
  • @guidot I have already saw that. That’s a question about why a stated before a temporal but my question is about where should I place the objects? – M4HdYaR Apr 15 '20 at 14:56
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    well, the accepted answer in related question says "don't trust this rule to much" - and I can second that. Again. – Shegit Brahm Apr 15 '20 at 15:01
  • @ShegitBrahm but your answer is not still the answer to my question. Where is the place of objects? – M4HdYaR Apr 15 '20 at 15:03
  • Another related question with more details. – guidot Apr 15 '20 at 16:23
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    Tekamolo by itself says nothing about objects. If your textbook says something about the position of objects, you should include that in the question. – David Vogt Apr 15 '20 at 16:24
  • @M4HdYaR Could you please detail your question? Is it about the position of (in)direct objects with regard to other locative expressions? – Nico Apr 15 '20 at 16:33
  • @Nico Yes ok I will – M4HdYaR Apr 15 '20 at 17:12

2 Answers2

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The problems is connected to what auf der Straße relates.

As the sentence is written, it would assume it refers to Jugendliche. Of course one could also want to specify, where the interview took place, where the reporter was, where the reporter found the people to interview or even something else.

Im afraid, that the word order is dependent on the intended statement.

guidot
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  • good point, it offers the option, that the youth is living on the streets and got interviewd, in that case a reordering would fail. It might be insisted, that "Jugendliche von der Straße" could be used here, that is still not precise. – Shegit Brahm Apr 15 '20 at 15:06
  • Thanks for your answer and information, So you mean if I want to stress the auf der Straße then the sentence should be changed to Ein Journalist interviewte vor Kurzem auf der Straße Jugendliche? – M4HdYaR Apr 15 '20 at 15:07
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    @M4HdYaR: Emphasis is a secondary issue (clearly: the earlier, the more emphasized), but I would like to have clarified first, what the intended message is. – guidot Apr 15 '20 at 15:23
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While it might be the preferred order to have the accusative at the end, it might be over-ruled by the desired information structure.

Is it important that the reporter interviewed young people, or that they did their interviewing on the street? Generally, more important elements come later in the sentence, and I would assume that in this sentence the location where the interview happened is more important than the details of the subjects.

If neither was emphasised, then one would use the 'normal', unmarked, order.

Oliver Mason
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  • But as you can see the answer here https://german.stackexchange.com/q/6266/1696 he said the more relevant comes later! And young people are of course more relevant than on the street – M4HdYaR Apr 15 '20 at 14:58
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    @M4HdYaR: the relevance stressing is combined with the verb. So it comes to question: are the interviewed youth or the interview's location more relevant? – Shegit Brahm Apr 15 '20 at 15:04
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    @M4HdYaR Yes, that's what I said. What is important depends on the intended meaning: in this sentence the location seems more relevant. Unless, as in guidot's answer, it's interviewte [Jugendliche auf der Strasse] rather than interviewte [Jugendliche] auf der Strasse – Oliver Mason Apr 15 '20 at 15:08
  • But I'm now confused :/ Guidot says that Jugendliche comes first so it is more important! – M4HdYaR Apr 15 '20 at 15:12