Everyone's a critic! When talking about movies, you'll often express your opinions using verbs of thinking and saying, like sagen (to say), glauben (to believe), and finden (to think or consider).
| to think, to consider (be of the opinion) | finden |
Normally, when you link these thoughts with dass (that), the conjugated verb goes to the end of the subordinate clause. But German offers a handy shortcut: you can drop dass completely.
Dropping "dass" forces Verb-Second (V2) word order
When you omit dass, the clause loses its verb-final order. Instead, the conjugated verb moves back to its regular second position (V2). The dependent clause is structured exactly like a normal main clause.
| The critic says the movie is overrated. | Der Kritiker sagt, der Film ist überbewertet. |
Notice how the comma replaces dass, and the verb ist sits in the second position of its clause (der Film is position 1).
| I think the screenplay is extremely gripping. | Ich finde, das Drehbuch ist extrem fesselnd. |
This works beautifully with other verbs of stating and supposing, such as meinen (to think/mean), behaupten (to claim), and vermuten (to suspect):
| The critic thinks the ending is a bit cheesy. | Der Kritiker meint, das Ende ist ein bisschen kitschig. |
| The director claims the screenplay is not at all predictable. | Der Regisseur behauptet, das Drehbuch ist überhaupt nicht vorhersehbar. |
Combining clauses
Because the omitted-dass clause acts like a main clause, it can easily be followed by other conjunctions. Just remember that other subordinating conjunctions (like weil) still push the verb to the end of their respective clauses.
| I believe the sequel is totally overrated because it is boring. | Ich glaube, die Fortsetzung ist total überbewertet, weil sie langweilig ist. |
In this example, die Fortsetzung ist total überbewertet uses standard V2 word order, while the weil clause sends its verb (ist) to the end.
Here is one more review with a coordinating conjunction (aber), which does not affect word order:
| The journalist says the cast is good, but the plot remains predictable. | Der Journalist sagt, die Besetzung ist gut, aber die Handlung bleibt vorhersehbar. |
