Sentence builders provide a unique method of language learning that is significantly different from rote learning. This structured method of learning provides you with the correct sentence order and grammatical elements, making it useful for conversational practice and creating authentic sentences. A major benefit of sentence builders is that they allow for sentences to be created using grammar that you may not yet know, which supports the internalising of your target language.

Language learning can often seem to consist of a large amount of rote learning. While learning words or phrases through apps such as Anki is an important aspect of language learning, there are other methods of learning as well. One example of this is through using language partners as well as language tutors.

While using language partners is a great language-learning method, you may find yourself restricted in what you are able to say. What you wish to say in your mother tongue is usually much more complex than what you can say in your target language. This is usually due to additional grammar that you need to know, or knowing the additional words, such as adjectives or other qualifiers, to make your sentences interesting. Enter sentence builders.

Sentence builders support the use of additional grammar, correct sentence structure, and enhance conversational skills straight away.

The below sentence builder comes with various elements, including some adjectives and different options for the user to choose from. By using such a table, the creativity of your learning won’t be diminished, as you can still create a range of sentences as you desire. The benefit is that you don’t need to know some of the grammar, such as, in this case, dative or even verb conjugations. Some adjectives have been added to this as well, which means that you are actively learning some endings at the same time as learning new vocabulary. You could add more adjectives and give further options as you desire, however, this table is a good start for some fairly basic sentences.

A large benefit of using a table is that you have the chance to see new words, which helps you learn them in context. Rather than simply learning “wohne” or “ich wohne”, you would instead see this in the context of the full sentence. This means that if you were to see or hear it again in a new context, you’re more likely to understand its meaning, as you can easily relate back to the phrases you have already learned.

In addition, if you were using this in a large environment such as a classroom, you could create a whole conversation from several different tables. This would allow for a structured, grammatically correct, conversation, ensuring students can focus on saying a few meaningful sentences. This gives students such a big win when learning, as they know for sure that they are saying their sentences correctly.

For individual learners, this feeling of accomplishment can also be just as important.

Feeling Accomplished While Learning

Part of learning is having the feeling of success and accomplishment. Learning a new word a day might feel like a success…for a time, but after learning new words day in, and day out, when it comes time to put all those words together in a new sentence, things might be tricky.

When using a sentence builder, however, you know that you have created an authentic sentence, using the correct grammar and sentence order. That’s an accomplishment!

In comparison to simply learning new words, the ability to come straight out of the gate, and speak a full, grammatically correct, sentence is incredible! This can kick start your motivation for learning the language further, to build on your success right from the beginning.

The achievement to say complex sentences, with all the added frills that usually come later in language learning, is something that cannot be understated. 

Correction Of Errors

A strong benefit of this learning method is that the grammar is embedded in your sentences. Rather than simply learning “die Stadt” (the city), your sentence automatically changes the article from die (nominative) to der (dative). This means that rather than needing to understand why, or when this change needs to happen, it is already done for you. This is particularly beneficial for learning more complex sentences that might be grammatically beyond your level.

The major benefit of learning like this is that this is incredibly similar to the way that you learned your mother tongue language as a child.

In the same way that children learn grammar within full sentences, you are learning potentially new grammar for your target language. Language is learned through repetition, repetition, and repetition. Knowing that you are repeating sentences that contain correct grammar will make you that much more likely to use correct grammar in later, different, sentences.

Building Confidence In Languages

While using a sentence builder is best done with ‘active’ learning, such as in a conversational setting, they can also be used while learning a language at home. If you are learning vocabulary for a new topic, or starting to delve into a new grammatical concept, the structure of a sentence builder can help get you on the right track.

While you are learning new words, phrases or sentence structure, sentence builders can be mightily beneficial in helping get you on the right track right from the start. A good example of this is the below table:

Subject	Relative clause	Verb	Adjective
Mein Bruder My brother	, der ___ heißt, who is called ___,	ist is	groß. tall. nett. nice. freundlich. friendly. nervig. annoying. süß. cute. intelligent. intelligent.
Meine Schwester My sister	, die ___ heißt, who is called ___,

This table shows the use of the relative clause within a German sentence builder. The relative clause can be tricky to use correctly at first, and having it embedded within a table such as this models how it can be used. For learners who may not be quite ready for it yet, the relative clause column can be deleted/ignored to create a simpler sentence that may help learners focus on adjective vocabulary.

Good benefits for visual learners

For those who might be more visual learners, this is an excellent way to see how all of the words fit together. In addition, you’ll start to get a feel for the word order of the language, as the table will have this for you in the correct order already.

While in some sense this is still rote learning, it is not the same as using Anki (which I fully recommend). 

Possible downsides

Some possible pitfalls of using this method include the fact your sentences in some ways are set. For example, in the table above, each of the options results in the same sentence structure. This might not be such an issue for a small sentence like this, however as sentences get larger, you might want to make changes to them that the table doesn’t allow for. This means that while this is a good learning aid for much of the creative process of the language, as well as learning new vocabulary in context, it does still have limits. 

Reliance On These Structures For Language Use

Some reservations about using the sentence builders may be a fear of reliance on them for using the language, rather than authentically learning. I’m not sure that is a reasonable worry. 

Much of the benefit of using sentence builders is the internalization of grammar, conjugations and sentence order. This means that when speaking the language in other contexts, you are more likely to say new sentences correctly through this prior knowledge.

While you will certainly memorize some of these phrases, you will also learn the segments of the sentence. This means you will be able to understand how the sentence is built and change different elements as you need. For example, instead of saying you live in a small apartment, you can instead say that you live in a big apartment or a big house. You’ll understand what the changes that need to be made are, and how it fits into the sentence.

Not So Useful For Idioms/Colloquial Language

While sentence builders are useful for learning sentences that could have a range of different elements, they are less useful for learning set phrases that do not change.

One example of this is idioms. While in the sentence builder above, there are multiple places that one could live, there are far fewer ways to say “Tomaten auf den Augen haben”. Literally, this means “to have tomatoes in the eyes”, that is, to be oblivious to something. There are no other ways to say this, so there is no point putting this into a sentence builder.

While this is a limitation of sentence builders, this is not such a large hindrance that sentence builders themselves become useless.

Learning More About Sentence Builders

To learn more about Sentence Builders, I recommend looking up Gianfranco Conti and the work that he has done in pioneering this concept. While much of his resources are targeted towards teachers, there is still the potential to use this concept for personal language learning.

Conti has several books that are useful for language learning. They are listed below with short descriptions of how they might be helpful for language learning.

In Summary

For new and budding language learners sentence builders are a great tool to use, particularly in conjunction with a language partner, to use a a sort of ‘cheat’ sheet. For advanced language learners, as well as those learning a variety of nuanced and colloquial words, this may no longer be needed.