Sentence structure with trotzdem

Question

Is it necessary to have a verb after "nach" or we can begin the next clause of the sentence?

In my opinion, nevertheless e-books are more environmental friendly than paper books.

My sentence:

Meiner Meinung nach, trotzdem sind E-Books umweltfreundlicher als Papier.

Translator:

ebooks sind meiner Meinung nach trotzdem besser als Papier

Answer 1

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Let's build the correct German sentence step by step:

• Plain sentence:

  E-Books sind umweltfreundlicher als Papierbücher.
  ^{E-books are more environmentally friendly than paper books.}

• With an additional adverb:

  E-Books sind trotzdem umweltfreundlicher als Papierbücher.
  ^{E-books are nevertheless more environmentally friendly than paper books.}

• Without this adverb but with a fixed phrase that as a whole behaves like an adverb:

  E-Books sind meiner Meinung nach umweltfreundlicher als Papierbücher.
  ^{E-books are more environmentally friendly than paper books in my opinion.}

• Now both: adverb and adverbial phrase:

  E-Books sind meiner Meinung nach trotzdem umweltfreundlicher als Papierbücher.
  ^{E-books are nevertheless more environmentally friendly than paper books, in my opinion.}

• In German you can have any part of speech on position 1, so why not this adverbial phrase? You just need to move the subject to position 3 instead. This is the translation you were searching for:

  Meiner Meinung nach sind E-Books trotzdem umweltfreundlicher als Papierbücher.
  ^{In my opinion, nevertheless, e-books are more environmentally friendly than paper books.}

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You asked if it is necessary to have a verb after "nach".

1. This doesn't matter in this case, because "meiner Meinung nach" is a fixed phrase, that as a whole behaves like one word (like an adverb), so it doesn't matter from which components this phrase is made.
2. The answer to your question is: No. The word "nach" is a preposition and in fact it is normally impossible to have a verb after a preposition. If you have a sentence where you have a verb after a preposition, then this sentence probably is wrong. This is only possible if "nach" is used as a postposition, but this happens only in fixed phrases like "meiner Meinung nach" as far as I know.

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Also note:

In German it's neither "ebook" nor "Ebook" (both are wrong, they do not exist in German language) but only "E-Book". In English you can choose between "ebook" and "e-book" where "e-book" is the recommended version. The versions "Ebook" and "E-book" are both wrong in English.¹

Never trust a translator who writes a German noun with a lowercase initial letter!

Another error: "Better" is not the correct translation for "umweltfreundlicher"! And "paper books" are not "Papier" but "Papierbücher" or "Papier-Bücher" in German.

¹ _{Also: Electronic mail is in German not "Email" but "E-Mail" (pronunciation [ˈiːmeɪ̯l]). The word "Email" (pronunciation [eˈmaɪ̯] or [eˈmaɪ̯l]) exists in German, but it is "enamel" in English. This is a thin layer of glass on a metal surface.}

Answer 2

The translator's version is grammatically correct, but seems rather awkward in that it puts so many words between Ebooks and Papier, seeing as those are the things that are being compared here. Also, the translator version substitutes the specific meaning "environmental(ly) friendly* for the rather meaningless "better"/besser. But Carsten S's comment is correct in that the verb must come right after the adverbial phrase if that's how you're starting the sentence. There is, in fact, only one clause here; Meiner Meinung nach and trotzdem are just adverbial phrases, not subclauses, since they don't contain verbs. I think either one could reasonably placed in the first position depending on what you're trying to emphasize, but putting Meiner Meinung nach first helps keep the rest of the elements connected. So I think

Meiner Meinung nach sind E-Books trotzdem umweltfreundlicher als Papier.

is probably the best version.

Side note: It seems unusual to see the preposition nach after the phrase it's connected to, technically making it a postposition. Apparently it's allowed in the sense "according to", but not in any of its other senses.