A [[German modal particle]] serves no necessary syntactical function, but expresses the speaker's attitude towards the utterance. Modal particles include {{lang|de|ja, halt, doch, aber, denn, schon}} and others. Some of these also appear in non-particle forms. {{lang|de|Aber}}, for example, is also the conjunction ''but''. In {{lang|de|Er ist Amerikaner, '''aber''' er spricht gut Deutsch}}, "He is American, '''but''' he speaks German well," {{lang|de|aber}} is a conjunction connecting two sentences. But in {{lang|de|Er spricht '''aber''' gut Deutsch!}}, the {{lang|de|aber}} is a particle, with the sentence perhaps best translated as "What good German he speaks!"<ref>Martin Durrell, ''Using German'', Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition (2003), p. 156-164156–164.</ref> These particles are common in speech but rarely found in written language, except that which has a spoken quality (such as online messaging).<ref>{{cite journal|first=Fabian|last=Bross|year=2012|url=http://helikon-online.de/2012/Bross_Particles.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130318005540/http://helikon-online.de/2012/Bross_Particles.pdf |archive-date=2013-03-18 |url-status=live|title=German modal particles and the common ground|journal=Helikon. A Multidisciplinary Online Journal|pages=182–209}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Modal Particles: schon, ja, halt |url=https://german.yabla.com/lesson-Modal-Particles-schon-ja-halt-278 |publisher=[[Yabla]] German |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Vyatkina |first1=Nina |last2=Johnson |first2=Karen E. |title=German Modal Particles |url=http://calper.la.psu.edu/sites/default/files/pubfiles/CALPER_GMP_Preface.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701124443/http://calper.la.psu.edu/sites/default/files/pubfiles/CALPER_GMP_Preface.pdf |archive-date=2019-07-01 |url-status=live |publisher=Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research – The Pennsylvania State University}}</ref>
