Solange gute Menschen nichts tun, wird das Böse triumphieren.

Sentence Discussions German
#1
English Translation

As long as good people do nothing, evil will triumph.

I woild have thought; “Solange gute Menschen tun nichts , wird das Böse triumphieren.”
I am wondering why “tun” was not the second element in the sentence?

#2

“Solange” is a subordinating conjunction, which moves the verb to the end of the sentence clause.

Ich kann dir helfen, solange ich genug Geld habe.
(I can help you, as long as I have enough money).

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#3

What @Lernen_und_Fahren said:

  • In a main clause, the word order is “subject, verb, object (or whatever else there is)”.
  • In a subordinate clause that word order changes to “conjunction, subject, everything else other than the verb, verb”.
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