Word order: the verb comes second

In a German statement the conjugated verb is always the second element. Whatever you put first — the subject, a time, a place, even the object — the verb comes next, and the subject moves behind it if it isn't already first: Ich gehe heute ins Kino, but Heute gehe ich ins Kino.

When a verb has two parts — a modal plus an infinitive, haben/sein plus a participle, or a separable verb — the conjugated part stays second and the other part goes to the very end, wrapping the sentence like a bracket: Ich kann heute nicht kommen. Der Film fängt um acht an.