German word order in a completely standard, neutral main clause is a follows:

  • nominative subject,
  • conjugated verb,
  • accusative then dative pronoun,
  • nouns with definite determiners, in the order dative, accusative
  • most adverbials
  • nicht – or other negation particles
  • adverbials of manner
  • nouns with indefinite determiners, in the order dative, accusative
  • the complement, and finally
  • any other verbs.

My podcast on German word order contains more information about what those terms mean, and also a more detailed version of word order. You can listen to the podcast directly on your computer by clicking here.