TeKaMoLo: The Word Order Rule That Fixes Most Mistakes
TeKaMoLo is a memory trick for ordering extra information in a German sentence: Temporal (when) before Kausal (why) before Modal (how) before Lokal (where). Once you know this order, sentences that felt like guesswork — where does “yesterday” go, where does “with the car” go — stop being a puzzle.
The rule itself
When a German sentence has more than one piece of extra information (beyond subject, verb and object), they go in this order:
- Temporal — when? (heute, am Abend, letzte Woche)
- Kausal — why? (wegen des Regens, aus diesem Grund)
- Modal — how? (schnell, mit dem Auto, sehr gut)
- Lokal — where? (in der Bibliothek, zu Hause)
The canonical example, used across nearly every German grammar resource:
Ich fahre am Abend wegen des Regens mit dem Auto zur Arbeit. (Te: am Abend) (Ka: wegen des Regens) (Mo: mit dem Auto) (Lo: zur Arbeit)
I’m driving to work by car this evening because of the rain.
Notice how unnatural the reordered version sounds even before you know the rule by name: Ich fahre zur Arbeit am Abend mit dem Auto wegen des Regens is grammatically parseable but sounds distinctly wrong to a fluent ear — which is exactly the instinct TeKaMoLo is trying to give you deliberately, faster than picking it up by pure exposure.
Why this actually matters for speaking
This isn’t an obscure grammar point — it’s one of the highest-frequency patterns in ordinary spoken German, since most real sentences describing an action naturally include at least one or two of these four elements. Getting the order wrong doesn’t usually break communication entirely, but it makes you sound noticeably less natural, and in exam speaking tasks specifically, examiners are listening for range and structure, not just correct vocabulary.
The exceptions worth knowing
You don’t need all four every time. Most sentences use two or three of the four categories. When one is missing, the rest keep their relative order — skip Kausal if there’s no reason to state, but Temporal still comes before Modal and Lokal.
Lokal almost always stays last, even in the exceptions to the broader rule. If you remember nothing else, remembering “place goes last” resolves the majority of real mistakes.
Logically connected phrases stick together, overriding TeKaMoLo. If a location phrase is directly describing the subject rather than functioning as an independent complement — “Herr Bruckner aus Paris hat…” — it stays attached to the subject rather than moving to the TeKaMoLo position.
Emphasis can override the default order. TeKaMoLo describes the neutral, unstressed word order. If you want to emphasise the reason, for instance, German allows moving it to the front of the sentence (with the verb still in second position) — “Wegen des Regens fahre ich heute mit dem Auto zur Arbeit” — which is correct, just not the neutral default TeKaMoLo describes.
Dativ comes before Akkusativ, a related but separate rule, except when the Akkusativ object is a pronoun, in which case it moves earlier.
Rules like this become automatic through repeated use in real sentences, not through memorising the acronym. SipLingo corrects your word order as you speak, in your own language, across real conversations — exactly the repetition that turns TeKaMoLo from a rule you know into an instinct you use. Try it free →
A few more examples to build the pattern
Ich lerne am Wochenende wegen meiner Prüfung sehr intensiv in der Bibliothek. (Te: am Wochenende) (Ka: wegen meiner Prüfung) (Mo: sehr intensiv) (Lo: in der Bibliothek)
Er geht morgen wegen seines leeren Kühlschranks mit einer großen Tasche zum Supermarkt. (Te: morgen) (Ka: wegen seines leeren Kühlschranks) (Mo: mit einer großen Tasche) (Lo: zum Supermarkt)
Wir treffen uns heute schnell im Café. (Te: heute) (no Ka) (Mo: schnell) (Lo: im Café) — three of the four, in the same relative order.
Practise your German out loud with SipLingo, free to try on iPhone and Android:
How to practise it
Take a simple sentence and deliberately build it up one TeKaMoLo element at a time, out loud: start with “Ich fahre zur Arbeit,” then add Modal (mit dem Auto), then Kausal (wegen des Regens), then Temporal (heute) — and say the full sentence each time, watching where the new piece slots in relative to what’s already there. Doing this with your own real daily activities, rather than textbook examples, builds the pattern faster because you’re not just memorising a fixed sentence.
Common mistakes learners make with TeKaMoLo
Putting Lokal too early. The most frequent error: “Ich fahre in die Stadt heute mit dem Bus” instead of “Ich fahre heute mit dem Bus in die Stadt.” Place almost always belongs at the end — if you remember only one part of TeKaMoLo under exam pressure, remember this.
Forgetting Kausal exists as its own category. Learners often merge reason into Modal, producing awkward orderings like “Ich fahre schnell wegen des Regens” (Modal then Kausal) instead of “Ich fahre wegen des Regens schnell” (Kausal before Modal, per the rule).
Overapplying the rule to short sentences. TeKaMoLo describes ordering when multiple elements are present. A sentence with just one adverbial phrase doesn’t need to “wait” for the others — “Ich arbeite heute” is complete and correct on its own, no Kausal, Modal or Lokal required.
Why this rule specifically helps with speaking, not just writing
Word order rules that are easy to apply when writing (where you can pause, reread, revise) become genuinely difficult under the real-time pressure of speaking, where you’re constructing the sentence as you say it. This is exactly why TeKaMoLo is worth practising out loud specifically, repeatedly, with your own real sentences about your own day — the acronym only becomes useful once applying it doesn’t require conscious mid-sentence calculation.
Related guides: how to sound more German
Official sources
For the official details and the latest updates, see:
- Duden: Duden for learners: sentence parts (Satzglieder) – Subject, predicate, objects and adverbials – the basis of word order
Frequently asked questions
What does TeKaMoLo mean? It’s a memory device for German word order: Temporal (time), Kausal (reason), Modal (manner), Lokal (place) — the default order in which these types of information appear in a German sentence.
Is TeKaMoLo a strict rule I always have to follow? It describes the neutral, unstressed default order. German allows deviations for emphasis — moving a phrase to the front of the sentence to highlight it — but TeKaMoLo is the order to default to when nothing is being specially emphasised.
Does TeKaMoLo apply to every German sentence? It applies whenever a sentence includes more than one of these four types of information. Simple sentences with just a subject, verb and object don’t involve TeKaMoLo at all, and most real sentences only use two or three of the four categories, not all four.
Why is Lokal always last? It’s the most consistently fixed part of the rule — even in sentences that otherwise bend the order for emphasis, place information tends to stay in the final position, which is why “place goes last” is the single most useful shortcut to remember.
Turn TeKaMoLo from a memorised rule into an automatic instinct through real speaking practice. SipLingo corrects your word order in your own language, in real conversations. A1 to B2.
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