Sobald die E‑Mail ankommt, gebe ich dir sofort Bescheid.

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Breakdown of Sobald die E‑Mail ankommt, gebe ich dir sofort Bescheid.

• dir: you; (informal singular, dative)
• sobald: as soon as
• ankommen: to arrive

Questions & Answers about Sobald die E‑Mail ankommt, gebe ich dir sofort Bescheid.

Why does sobald trigger a comma, and what does it mean grammatically?

Sobald introduces a subordinate clause (a dependent time clause). In German, subordinate clauses are normally separated from the main clause by a comma. So Sobald die E‑Mail ankommt, is the dependent clause, and gebe ich dir sofort Bescheid is the main clause.

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Why is the verb ankommt at the end of Sobald die E‑Mail ankommt?

In a subordinate clause introduced by words like sobald, wenn, weil, dass, German typically puts the conjugated verb at the end. That’s why it’s die E‑Mail ankommt (not ankommt die E‑Mail or kommt an).

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Why does the main clause start with gebe ich instead of ich gebe?

Because the subordinate clause Sobald die E‑Mail ankommt is in position 1 of the sentence. German main clauses follow the V2 rule: the conjugated verb must be in the second position. If something other than the subject comes first (here: the whole Sobald… clause), then the verb comes next, and the subject follows: …, gebe ich ….

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What exactly is Bescheid geben, and why is it split up?