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When dealing with touring celebrities and their extravagant backstage requests, a standard sentence sometimes isn't dramatic enough. To place heavy emphasis on exactly what someone wants, needs, or dislikes, German uses pseudo-cleft sentences (**Pseudospaltsätze**). This structure perfectly mirrors the English "What [someone wants] is [the thing]."

### The "Was ... ist ..." Structure

To build this emphatic structure, you split the sentence into two parts:

- **The "Was" clause:** Begin with **was** (what). This acts as a subordinate clause, meaning its conjugated verb must go to the very **end**.
- **The main clause:** The entire *was*-clause acts as one giant block occupying Position 1 of the sentence. Therefore, the main clause immediately follows the comma and starts with the verb **ist** (is) in Position 2. The emphasized noun or phrase then follows.

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### Emphasizing Needs and Desires

You can use this structure with verbs like *wollen* (to want), *verlangen* (to demand), or *erwarten* (to expect). Notice how the main verb **ist** remains singular even if the star demands multiple things.

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### Expressing Opinions and Feelings

You aren't limited to what people want. You can also emphasize how they feel about something by using adjectives and expressions like *wichtig sein* (to be important) or *skurril finden* (to find bizarre) in the **was**-clause.

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Finally, you can use this exact same word order to highlight the source of a celebrity's annoyance or their ultimate requirement after a show. The verb in the **was**-clause lands right before the comma, followed immediately by **ist**.

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Emphasis with pseudo-clefts (was ... ist)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
the diva	die Diva
the dressing room	die Garderobe
What the diva really wants is a larger dressing room.	Was die Diva wirklich will, ist eine größere Garderobe.
Should the dressing room be too small, she will complain.	Sollte die Garderobe zu klein sein, wird sie sich beschweren.
What the star expects is complete perfection before the concert.	Was der Star erwartet, ist völlige Perfektion vor dem Konzert.
the privacy	die Privatsphäre
the bodyguard	der Leibwächter
What she demands is more privacy and a new bodyguard.	Was sie verlangt, ist mehr Privatsphäre und ein neuer Leibwächter.
The bodyguard gets both the hotel and the flight paid for.	Der Leibwächter bekommt sowohl das Hotel als auch den Flug bezahlt.
The bodyguard must protect the diva's privacy, otherwise she will get angry.	Der Leibwächter muss die Privatsphäre der Diva schützen, sonst wird sie wütend.
the room temperature	die Raumtemperatur
What is important to me is an exact room temperature.	Was mir wichtig ist, ist eine exakte Raumtemperatur.
Should the room temperature drop, the singer will freeze.	Sollte die Raumtemperatur sinken, wird der Sänger frieren.
bizarre	skurril
the special request	der Sonderwunsch
the mineral water	das Mineralwasser
What I find bizarre is this special request to drink expensive mineral water.	Was ich skurril finde, ist dieser Sonderwunsch, teures Mineralwasser zu trinken.
I get the expensive mineral water delivered daily.	Ich bekomme das teure Mineralwasser täglich geliefert.
The actor has both many special requests and bizarre habits.	Der Schauspieler hat sowohl viele Sonderwünsche als auch skurrile Angewohnheiten.
the lighting	die Beleuchtung
What bothers him is the bright lighting in the hallway.	Was ihn stört, ist die helle Beleuchtung im Flur.
the masseur	der Masseur
Should the lighting be too dark, the masseur cannot work.	Sollte die Beleuchtung zu dunkel sein, kann der Masseur nicht arbeiten.
What the band needs is a good masseur after the concert.	Was die Band braucht, ist ein guter Masseur nach dem Konzert.