Adverb Order (The TeKaMoLo Rule)

In English, adverbials like time and place usually crowd together at the end of a sentence—most often place before time (I’m going to Berlin tomorrow). German flips that instinct completely and adds a structured order for middle-field (Mittelfeld) information known as TeKaMoLo.

TeKaMoLo is a reliable rule of thumb for neutral German sentences—not an unbreakable law. Speaker emphasis, pronouns, and what counts as new information can shift pieces around, so learn TeKaMoLo as your default baseline before adding emphasis.

The TeKaMoLo Breakdown

Each syllable of Te-Ka-Mo-Lo stands for a grammatical question and category of adverb or prepositional phrase:

Notice how Ka stands strictly for kausal (cause or reason—answering Warum?), never conditional (if) or calendar dates (Temporal). When you see phrases introduced by wegen (because of), aus (out of), or trotz (despite), they belong in the Ka slot.

Complete Example in Action

Suppose you want to express this idea in neutral German:

I am traveling tomorrow because of the meeting with my boss (or by train) to Frankfurt.

Sort each piece into its TeKaMoLo slot first:

1. Te (Temporal — when?): morgen (tomorrow)
2. Ka (Kausal — why?): wegen der Besprechung (die Besprechung) (because of the meeting)
3. Mo (Modal — how / with whom?): mit meinem Chef (der Chef) or mit dem Zug (der Zug) (with my boss / by train)
4. Lo (Lokal — where to?): nach Frankfurt (to Frankfurt)

Now slot them cleanly after the subject and conjugated verb in V2 word order:

• Ich fahre morgen (Te) wegen der Besprechung (Ka) mit dem Zug (Mo) nach Frankfurt (Lo).
• Ich fahre morgen (Te) wegen der Besprechung (Ka) mit dem Zug (Mo) nach Frankfurt (Lo).

Even when only two or three adverbials appear—far more common in real conversation—keep their relative order:

• Te + Lo: Wir treffen uns heute Abend (Te) im Café (das Café) (Lo). (We’re meeting at the café tonight.)
• Te + Mo + Lo: Sie fährt jeden Morgen (Te) mit dem Fahrrad (das Fahrrad) (Mo) zur Arbeit (die Arbeit) (Lo). (She rides her bike to work every morning.)
• Ka + Lo: Er bleibt wegen der Erkältung (die Erkältung) (Ka) zu Hause (Lo). (He’s staying home because of the cold.)

How Position 1 and Sentence Brackets Interact with TeKaMoLo

Moving one adverbial to Position 1 is very common in German to set the scene or highlight a detail. When you front an element, the conjugated verb stays in Position 2, the subject follows in Position 3, and the remaining adverbials stay in TeKaMoLo sequence:

• Morgen (Te) fahre ich wegen der Besprechung (Ka) mit dem Zug (Mo) nach Frankfurt (Lo).
• Wegen des Staus (der Stau) (Ka) komme ich heute (Te) mit der U-Bahn (die U-Bahn) (Mo) ins Büro (das Büro) (Lo).

What if the sentence has a Satzklammer (a separable prefix, past participle, or infinitive at the end)? All TeKaMoLo adverbials stay inside the bracket, before the closing verb:

• Ich bin gestern (Te) mit dem Zug (Mo) nach München (Lo) gefahren. (I went to Munich by train yesterday.)

Directional Lokal phrases (nach Frankfurt, ins Büro) cling especially tightly to the closing verb, which is why Lo sits at the very end of the sequence.

When Speakers Break TeKaMoLo

Because TeKaMoLo reflects neutral flow—putting familiar context early and newer information later—two situations naturally override it:

1. Pronouns and short adverbs like nicht: Personal pronouns come before adverbials, and sentence-level nicht usually stands before Modal and Lokal phrases (Ich fahre morgen nicht mit dem Zug).
2. Highlighting new information: Putting nach Frankfurt before mit dem Zug can sound marked, as if you are contrasting modes of transport (Ich fahre morgen nach Frankfurt mit dem Zug, nicht mit dem Auto). For everyday clarity, stick with TeKaMoLo.

Common Mistakes to Avoid