German often announces a clause before it arrives. A little word — es or a da-compound like darauf or darüber — sits in the matrix clause as a placeholder, and the real content follows as a dass-clause or a zu-infinitive after the comma. This is the anticipatory or correlative construction. Sometimes the placeholder is optional decoration; sometimes it is grammatically obligatory, and leaving it out produces a sentence no native speaker would utter. Knowing which is which is one of the cleanest dividing lines between B2 and genuine C1 control.
Anticipatory es: the forward-pointing placeholder
When a dass-clause or zu-infinitive functions as the subject or object of a verb, German frequently slots a "preview" es into the matrix clause. The es has no meaning of its own; it merely holds the position that the heavy clause will occupy in spirit, and the clause itself is extraposed to the end (the Nachfeld).
Es freut mich, dass du kommst.
It makes me happy that you're coming. (es previews the dass-clause, which is the real subject of freut)
Es ist wichtig, pünktlich zu sein.
It's important to be punctual. (es previews the zu-infinitive)
Ich finde es gut, dass ihr euch endlich versöhnt habt.
I think it's good that you've finally made up. (es previews the dass-clause, here the object of finde)
English does exactly the same thing with "it" ("It's important to be punctual"), so the construction itself feels familiar. The German wrinkle is placement and optionality.
When the clause moves to the front, es disappears
The es exists only to fill a gap. If the dass-clause or zu-infinitive moves into the front field (the Vorfeld) itself, the gap is filled and the es must drop out.
Dass du kommst, freut mich.
That you're coming makes me happy. (the clause itself fills the Vorfeld — no es)
Pünktlich zu sein ist wichtig.
To be punctual is important. (infinitive in the Vorfeld — no es)
Writing Dass du kommst, es freut mich is wrong: you would be filling the subject slot twice. So es and a fronted clause are in complementary distribution — you get one or the other, never both.
Object es is often more stable
With verbs that take es as a kind of fixed object slot — finden, hassen, lieben, ertragen, schätzen — the es tends to stay even when you reorder, because it is anchored to the verb's frame.
Ich hasse es, früh aufstehen zu müssen.
I hate having to get up early. (es is the object slot of hassen and stays put)
Sie kann es nicht ertragen, ignoriert zu werden.
She can't bear being ignored.
Da-compounds: the correlate prepositional verbs cannot live without
Here is the construction that genuinely has no English parallel. Many German verbs govern a fixed preposition: warten auf (wait for), bestehen auf (insist on), sich freuen auf (look forward to), denken an (think of), sich erinnern an (remember). When the object of that preposition is a noun, all is normal: Ich warte auf den Bus. But a preposition cannot govern a whole clause — you cannot say Ich warte auf, dass .... German solves this by replacing the preposition with its da-compound (darauf, darüber, daran, davon, dazu), which then anticipates the clause that follows after the comma.
Ich freue mich darauf, dich zu sehen.
I'm looking forward to seeing you. (sich freuen auf → darauf previews the zu-infinitive)
Ich denke oft daran, dass wir uns bald wiedersehen.
I often think about the fact that we'll see each other again soon. (denken an → daran previews the dass-clause)
Er besteht darauf, dass alle pünktlich erscheinen.
He insists that everyone show up on time. (bestehen auf → darauf previews the dass-clause)
The logic is mechanical and worth internalizing: preposition + da- + r (before a vowel) → the compound; comma; then dass or zu. The r appears when the preposition starts with a vowel (auf → darauf, über → darüber, an → daran), and is absent otherwise (mit → damit, von → davon).
Wir haben uns darüber gestritten, wer den Abwasch macht.
We argued about who does the dishes. (sich streiten über → darüber, here previewing an indirect question)
Es hängt davon ab, ob es morgen regnet.
It depends on whether it rains tomorrow. (abhängen von → davon; note the subject-es as well)
Obligatory vs optional: the dividing line
Whether the correlate is required depends on the verb:
| Construction | Correlate | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb + prepositional object (warten auf, bestehen auf, abhängen von) | Obligatory da-compound | Ich warte darauf, dass ... |
| Plain subject clause (freuen, ärgern, stören) | Optional es, dropped when the clause is fronted | (Es) freut mich, dass ... |
| Plain object clause with anchoring verbs (hassen, lieben, finden, ertragen) | Usually present es | Ich finde es schön, dass ... |
| Adjective + zu-infinitive (wichtig, schön, leicht) | Optional es | (Es) ist leicht, das zu lernen. |
The line that matters most: prepositional-object verbs need the da-compound; plain complement verbs only optionally take es.
Ich warte darauf, dass er endlich anruft.
I'm waiting for him to finally call. (darauf is obligatory — warten auf governs a preposition)
Ich hoffe, dass er bald anruft.
I hope that he calls soon. (hoffen takes no preposition, so no correlate at all)
The contrast between these two is the whole lesson in miniature: warten lives on auf and therefore demands darauf; hoffen governs its clause directly and wants nothing.
Where the correlate sits in the clause
The da-compound or es takes up a normal Mittelfeld position before the verb bracket closes; the clause it announces is extraposed to the very end, after the comma. With separable verbs the prefix still goes to the end of the matrix clause, before the comma.
Sie fängt schon damit an, die Koffer zu packen.
She's already starting to pack the suitcases. (anfangen mit → damit; separable prefix an- closes the bracket before the comma)
Common Mistakes
❌ Ich warte, dass er anruft.
Incorrect — warten auf requires the correlate darauf before the clause.
✅ Ich warte darauf, dass er anruft.
I'm waiting for him to call.
This is the single most common error English speakers make. Because English "wait for him to call" lets the preposition govern the infinitival phrase directly, learners assume German can simply omit the preposition before a clause. It cannot: the preposition must reappear as a da-compound.
❌ Ich freue mich auf, dass du kommst.
Incorrect — a bare preposition can't govern a clause; it must become darauf.
✅ Ich freue mich darauf, dass du kommst.
I'm looking forward to your coming.
❌ Dass du kommst, es freut mich.
Incorrect — the fronted clause already fills the subject slot; es is now redundant.
✅ Dass du kommst, freut mich.
That you're coming makes me happy.
❌ Ich bestehe auf, dass alle kommen.
Incorrect — bestehen auf needs the da-compound darauf before the dass-clause.
✅ Ich bestehe darauf, dass alle kommen.
I insist that everyone come.
❌ Es freut mich dass du kommst.
Incorrect — German always separates the matrix clause from a dass-clause with a comma.
✅ Es freut mich, dass du kommst.
It makes me happy that you're coming. (the comma before dass is obligatory)
The comma before dass and before an extraposed zu-clause that carries a correlate is not optional in German, unlike English, which has largely abandoned the comma before "that."
Key Takeaways
- es can preview a subject or object clause; it vanishes when the clause itself moves to the front field.
- Verbs with a fixed preposition (warten auf, bestehen auf, sich freuen auf, denken an, abhängen von) require the matching da-compound before a dass- or zu-clause, because a preposition cannot directly govern a clause — the structural fact English never confronts.
- r is inserted when the preposition begins with a vowel: auf → darauf, über → darüber, an → daran.
- Plain complement verbs like hoffen take their clause directly, with no correlate; verbs like finden and hassen keep an anchoring es.
- A comma always separates the matrix clause from the announced dass- or zu-clause.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- da-Compounds: dafür, damit, daraufB1 — How German fuses da(r)- with a preposition to refer back to a thing, why animacy decides between damit and mit ihm, and how to insert the linking -r-.
- Verbs with Fixed PrepositionsB1 — The large class of German verbs that govern a fixed preposition with a fixed case (warten auf + Akk., teilnehmen an + Dat.) — why the preposition is never the literal English one and the two-way case is lexically frozen.
- Placeholder es and the VorfeldB2 — The dummy es that fills the first slot of a German clause to satisfy verb-second — and vanishes the instant any real constituent is fronted.
- dass-Clauses and Complement ClausesB1 — A dass-clause is a subordinate clause that serves as the object of a verb of saying, thinking, or feeling — verb-final, comma before dass — alongside the ob-clause for indirect yes/no questions and the dass-less V2 variant of casual speech.
- Infinitive Clauses (zu-clauses)B1 — A zu-clause is a compressed subordinate clause with no subject of its own — it borrows the main clause's subject, ends in zu plus the infinitive, and is the reason German cannot say 'I want you to come' with an infinitive.
- da- and wo-Compounds with Prepositional VerbsB2 — How prepositional verbs build da-compounds for things and wo-compounds in questions, while keeping preposition plus pronoun for people.