Breakdown of Oft verdrängt es das Unterbewusstsein.
es
it
oft
often
verdrängen
to repress
das Unterbewusstsein
the subconscious
Questions & Answers about Oft verdrängt es das Unterbewusstsein.
Why does the object es come before the subject das Unterbewusstsein in this sentence?
This showcases the main rule for the Mittelfeld (the middle part of a German sentence after the conjugated verb): pronouns almost always precede nouns. Because the object is a pronoun (es) and the subject is a full noun (das Unterbewusstsein), the object naturally jumps ahead of the subject.
Since both es and das Unterbewusstsein look exactly the same in the nominative and accusative cases, how do we know which is the subject?
Aside from common sense (a subconscious represses things, not the other way around), the word order gives it away. Because of the rule that pronouns precede nouns after the verb, a native speaker intuitively processes the pronoun es as the object and the noun das Unterbewusstsein as the subject.
If we replaced the noun subject with a pronoun like sie (she), how would the word order change?
When both the subject and the object are pronouns, the nominative subject takes priority and must come first. The sentence would change to: Oft verdrängt sie es.
Why isn't the subject in the very first position?
German uses V2 (verb-second) word order. Because the adverb Oft occupies the first position to emphasize how frequently this happens, the verb verdrängt stays in the second position. This pushes the subject and object into the middle field, where the pronoun-before-noun rule takes over. You could absolutely say Das Unterbewusstsein verdrängt es oft. if you wanted a standard subject-first sentence.