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In English, it's written:

He says (that) he'll come immediately.

In German it changes the sentence structure:

Er sagt, dass er sofort kommt.

The problem is, if I delete "dass" from my sentence, then the sentence structure will be changed?

Er sagt, er kommt sofort.

Am I allowed to write like English?

*Er sagt, (dass) er kommt sofort.

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    Not sure if I understand your question. "Er sagt, er kommt sofort." is fine, "Er sagt, dass er kommt sofort." is not.
    – user568
    Jul 3, 2011 at 15:09
  • @Stefan Walter: I mean, If I delete "dass" from my sentence but there's still a deleted one (when reading the sentence you can add "dass") the sentence structure should be changed to normal ( subject, verb, ..) or it remains like that?
    – user508
    Jul 3, 2011 at 15:27

1 Answer 1

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It's possible to say:

Er sagt, er komme sofort.

or, more precisely:

Er sagt, er werde sofort kommen.

Using "dass" is possible, too, but requires Konjunktiv I also:

Er sagt, dass er sofort komme.

"Indirect speech" requires the usage of "Konjunktiv I" in german: Indirekte Rede bei canoo. But in everyday speech, Konjunktiv is used rarely. You will hear "Er sagt, er kommt gleich" or "Er sagt, dass er gleich kommt." quite commonly.

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