Word order & sentences connected by "und"

[Mlle_Papillion]

I'm currently enrolled in a very uninformative German 101 course, and I was wondering if you all could help me. I understand the basic concepts of word order in sentences (verb comes second; modal infinitives come at the end; etc.), but I'm wondering what you do if you want to connect two sentences with "und."

Example (disclaimer: may contain mistakes): Im Herbst bin ich zur Schule in Michigan, und meine Woche ist sehr unterschieldlich.

So, my question is what are the rules about sentences like that which come after conjunctions? Also, are there any other word-order rules that I am missing, like whether a general location (zur Schule) comes before or after a geographic location (in Michigan)?

Thank you all in advance.

 

[RGA]

In German, there are 5 conjunctions that will take the "zero" position in sentence. They are: aber, denn, und, sondern and oder, or shortly ADUSO. When you use them, their positions are not counted. So, in your sentence:
Und meine Woche ist sehr unterschiedlich.
meine Woche takes the first and ist takes the second position.

And about your sentence. I think that (though I'm not sure if it's really right), the better one should be:
Im Herbst gehe ich zur Schule in Michigan. / Im Herbst besuche ich die Schule in Michigan. (if you want to say, you go to school in Michigan)
or
Im Herbst bin ich in der Schule in Michigan (if you want to say that, you're at the school).

Don't worry about the word order, that "in Michigan" comes after "Schule". That means, your school is in Michigan, not in New York or somewhere else. So, "Schule in Michigan" is a group.

It's only my personal opinion. Let's wait for a real German.
Sorry about my terrible English.

 

[Hutschi]

"Und" is not counted, indeed.
It can be used as conjunction to connect two main clauses. The main clauses keep their word order in this case. You may set a comma to show the structure. (In my opinion you should do so, but after the reform of orthography it is optional.)

It can also be used as a kind of bracket. (Like in mathematics: a*b+a*c=a*(b+c)

Wir gehen zusammen ins Kino und danach ins Kaufhaus.
This has the same verb and the same subject.

Wir gehen zuerst ins Kino und üben dann Mathematik.

Here only the subject is the same.

In such clauses, there is no comma in front of "und".

You see also, that "und" replaces the first place as a kind of pointer to "wir".

"Und" can also connect subordinated clauses.

In this case the finit verb part is at the end of each parts:

Ich gehe nicht ins Kino, weil ich kein Geld mehr habe und weil ich müde bin.

 

[berndf]

Ich gehe nicht ins Kino, weil ich kein Geld mehr habe und weil ich müde bin.

Note the absence of the comma in Hutschi's example. If "und" introduces a subordinate clause you never put a comma in front of "und". The same is true in enumerations: It is "a, b und c"tick and not "a, b, und c" cross.

 

[Robocop]

I think that the better one should be:
Im Herbst gehe ich zur Schule in Michigan. / Im Herbst besuche ich die Schule in Michigan. (if you want to say, you go to school in Michigan)
or
Im Herbst bin ich in der Schule in Michigan (if you want to say that, you're at the school).

I don't say you are wrong, and it seems quite logical to keep the verb and object together in "zur Schule gehen" and "die Schule besuchen". Yet putting "in Michigan" at the end sounds a bit awkward (to me, at least) and, clearly, I should prefer instead:
(A) Im Herbst gehe ich zur Schule. - Wo? - Im Herbst gehe ich in Michigan zur Schule.
(B) Im Herbst besuche ich die Schule. - Wo? - Im Herbst besuche ich in Michigan die Schule.

 

[RGA]

I don't say you are wrong, and it seems quite logical to keep the verb and object together in "zur Schule gehen" and "die Schule besuchen". Yet putting "in Michigan" at the end sounds a bit awkward (to me, at least) and, clearly, I should prefer instead:
(A) Im Herbst gehe ich zur Schule. - Wo? - Im Herbst gehe ich in Michigan zur Schule.
(B) Im Herbst besuche ich die Schule. - Wo? - Im Herbst besuche ich in Michigan die Schule.

Sprache ist nicht Mathematik, daher ist die beste Antwort nicht die logischeste, sondern die aus Gefühl kommende. Ich bin mit Deiner Antwort einverstanden.