Learn German: Es regnet. Deswegen sind meine Schuhe nass. - It is raining. Because of that my shoes are wet.

In German, the main verb must always be in the second position of a regular sentence. Because the connecting word deswegen takes up position 1, the verb sind takes position 2, pushing the subject meine Schuhe to position 3.

Is there a difference between deswegen, deshalb, and darum?

No, they all mean the same thing ('therefore', 'that is why', or 'because of that') and can be used interchangeably. They also all follow the exact same word order rule, keeping the verb in position 2.

Can I put the subject first and say Meine Schuhe sind deswegen nass?

Yes! You can put the subject first. The verb sind stays in position 2, and deswegen moves to position 3. However, starting with deswegen is very common because it strongly links back to the reason in the first sentence.

Quick refresher: why does mein have an -e at the end here?

The word Schuhe (shoes) is plural. Whenever a noun is plural, possessive words like mein (my) or dein (your) must take the plural ending -e, making them meine and deine.