> Some critics might argue that German only partially make use of the
> SOV pattern (mainly in dependent sentences). I'd say that is wrong
> since infinite verbals and verbal particles (nearly) always stand
> last in the sentence.
The placing of the infinitive or participle at the end of the sentence has
nothing to do with its being a verb form. It is part of the usual German
pattern of delaying sentence closure until the last word. You can see this
pattern with all sorts of other words as well.
For example, Dutch says:
We komen aan in Gent
German says:
Wir kommen in Gent an.
The "an" is delayed so that the sentence is not closed until the last word.
There is a similar tendency to delay the object, if possible.
Ich speile gern mit meinem Sohn am Mittwoch Tennis.
(Although emphasis affects word order, of course)
A significant difference between German and English word order is that
English allows closure very early, and accepts additional phrases, one after
another, so you never know when the sentence is going to end, rather like
this one, that rambles on and on, until the reader gets bored ,......
whereas German drives the sentence from position 2 and the last position,
and all the flabby bits are in the middle, on account of grammatical rules,
firmly put.
Peter