For German, most transformational lingusitic theories such as GB posit center-embedding as the underlying word order of sentences with embedded clauses: Weft ich [das Fahrrad zu reparieren] versprochen habe Because I the bike (ace) to repair promised have Because I promised to repair the bike However, far more common is a construction in which the entire subordinate clause is extraposed: Weil ich ti versprochen habe, [das Fahrrad zu reparieren]i.