View source for Subject–verb–object word order

{{short description|Sentence structure; the default word order in English}}
{{linguistic typology topics}}

In [[linguistic typology]], '''subject–verb–object''' ('''SVO''') is a [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]] structure where the [[subject (grammar)|subject]] comes first, the [[verb]] second, and the [[object (grammar)|object]] third. Languages may be classified according to the dominant sequence of these elements in unmarked sentences (i.e., sentences in which an unusual word order is not used for emphasis). English is included in this group. An example is "Sam ate apples."

SVO is the second-most common order by number of known languages, after [[Subject–object–verb|SOV]]. Together, SVO and SOV account for more than 87% of the world's languages.<ref>{{cite book |last=Crystal |first=David |author-link=David Crystal |title=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language |edition=2nd |year=1997 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-55967-7}}</ref> The label SVO often includes [[ergative language]]s although they do not have nominative subjects.
{{Language_word_order_frequency}} 
==Properties==
Subject–verb–object languages almost always place [[relative clause]]s after the nouns which they modify and [[adverbial subordinator]]s before the clause modified, with [[varieties of Chinese]] being notable exceptions.

Although some subject–verb–object languages in [[West Africa]], the best known being [[Ewe language|Ewe]], use [[postposition]]s in noun phrases, the vast majority of them, such as English, have [[preposition]]s. Most subject–verb–object languages place genitives after the noun, but a significant minority, including the postpositional SVO languages of West Africa, the [[Hmong–Mien languages]], some [[Sino-Tibetan languages]], and European languages like Swedish, Danish, Lithuanian, and Latvian have ''prenominal'' genitives<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wals.info/feature/description/86 |title=Order of Genitive and Noun}}</ref> (as would be expected in an [[Subject–object–verb|SOV language]]).

Non-European SVO languages usually have a strong tendency to place [[adjective]]s, [[demonstrative]]s, and [[numeral (linguistics)|numerals]] after the nouns that they modify, but Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Indonesian place numerals before nouns, as in English. Some linguists have come to view the numeral as the head in the relationship to fit the rigid right-branching of these languages.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Donohue |first=Mark |title=Word order in Austronesian from north to south and west to east |journal=Linguistic Typology |volume=11 |date=2007 |issue=2 |page=379|doi=10.1515/LINGTY.2007.026 |s2cid=49214413 |via=Austronesian linguistics - ANU |s2cid-access=free |url=http://austronesian.linguistics.anu.edu.au/historydownloads/Donohue_2007_AN%20word%20order.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328172606/http://austronesian.linguistics.anu.edu.au/historydownloads/Donohue_2007_AN%20word%20order.pdf |archive-date= Mar 28, 2019 }}</ref>

There is a strong tendency, as in English, for main verbs to be preceded by auxiliaries: ''I '''am''' thinking. He '''should''' reconsider.''

== Language differences and variation ==

{{more citations needed section|date=March 2023}}

An example of SVO order in English is:
:''Andy ate cereal.''
In an [[analytic language]] such as English, subject–verb–object order is relatively inflexible because it identifies which part of the sentence is the subject and which one is the object. ("The dog bit Andy" and "Andy bit the dog" mean two completely different things, while, in case of "Bit Andy the dog", it may be difficult to determine whether it is a complete sentence or a fragment, with "Andy the dog" the object and an omitted/implied subject.) 

The situation is more complex in languages that have no strict order of V and O imposed by their grammar. e.g. [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], or [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]. Here, the ordering is rather governed by emphasis. 

[[Russian language|Russian]] allows the use of subject, verb, and object in any order and "shuffles" parts to bring up a slightly different contextual meaning each time. E.g. "любит она его" (loves she him) may be used to point out "she acts this way because she LOVES him", or "его она любит" (him she loves) is used in the context "if you pay attention, you'll see that HE is the one she truly loves", or "его любит она" (him loves she) may appear along the lines "I agree that cat is a disaster, but since my wife adores it and I adore her...". Regardless of order, it is clear that "его" is the object because it is in the [[accusative case]]. 

In [[Polish language|Polish]], SVO order is basic in an affirmative sentence, and a different order is used to either emphasize some part of it or to adapt it to a broader context logic. For example, {{lang|pl|"''Roweru'' ci nie kupię"|italic=unset}} (I won't buy you ''a bicycle''), {{lang|pl|"''Od piątej'' czekam"|italic=unset}} (I've been waiting ''since five'').<ref>{{cite work |title=Polish, An Essential Grammar |first=Dana |last=Bielec |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=2007 |page=272}}</ref>

In [[Turkish language|Turkish]], it is normal to use [[subject-object-verb|SOV]], but SVO may be used sometimes to emphasize the verb. For example, "John terk etti Mary'yi" (Lit. ''John/left/Mary'': John left Mary) is the answer to the question "What did John do with Mary?" instead of the regular [SOV] sentence "John Mary'yi terk etti" (Lit. ''John/Mary/left'').

[[German language|German]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], and [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]] display the order subject-verb-object in some, especially main clauses, but really are [[V2 word order|verb-second languages]], not SVO languages in the sense of a word order type.<ref>The typological database WALS treats German as a language without fixed basic order; see [https://wals.info/chapter/81 WALS chapter 81].</ref> They have SOV in subordinate clauses, as given in Example 1 below. Example 2 shows the effect of verb second order: the first element in the clause that comes before the V need not be the subject. In Kashmiri, the word order in embedded clauses is conditioned by the category of the subordinating conjunction, as in Example 3. 
#{{lang|nl|"Er weiß, dass ich jeden Sonntag das Auto wasche."/"Hij weet dat ik elke zondag de auto was."}} (German & Dutch respectively: "He knows that I wash the car each Sunday", lit. "He knows that I each Sunday the car wash".) Cf. the simple sentence {{lang|nl|"Ich wasche das Auto jeden Sonntag."/ "Ik was de auto elke zondag."}}, "I wash the car each Sunday."
#"Jeden Sonntag wasche ich das Auto."/"Elke zondag was ik de auto." (German & Dutch respectively: "Each Sunday I wash the car.", lit. "Each Sunday wash I the car."). "Ich wasche das Auto jeden Sonntag"/"Ik was de auto elke zondag" translates perfectly into English "I wash the car each Sunday", but preposing the adverbial results in a structure that is different from the English one.
#Kashmiri:
{{interlinear|indent=4
|mye ees phyikyir yithi.ni tsi temyis ciThy '''dyikh'''
|to.me was worry lest you to.him letter '''will.give'''
|"I was afraid you might give him the letter"}}
::If the embedded clause is introduced by the transparent conjunction ''zyi'' the SOV order changes to SVO. "mye ees phyikyir (zyi) tsi maa '''dyikh''' temyis ciThy".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hook |first1=P. E. |first2=O. N. |last2=Koul |name-list-style=amp |year=1996 |title=Kashmiri as a V-2 language |editor1-first=V.S. |editor1-last=Lakshmi |editor2-first=A. |editor2-last=Mukherjee |work=Word order in Indian languages |publisher=Centre of Advanced Study in Linguistics |location=[[Osmania University]] |page=102 |isbn=81-85194-42-4}}</ref>

English developed from such a reordering language and still bears traces of this word order, for example in locative inversion ("In the garden '''sat''' a cat.") and some [[Negative_inversion|clauses beginning with negative expressions]]: "only" ("Only then '''do''' we find X."), "not only" ("Not only '''did''' he storm away but also slammed the door."), "under no circumstances" ("under no circumstances '''are''' the students allowed to use a mobile phone"), "never" ("Never '''have''' I done that."), "on no account" and the like. In such cases, [[Do-support|''do''-support]] is sometimes required, depending on the construction.

SVO order is permitted in [[Ho language|Ho]], although the predominant clausal constituent order of the language is [[subject-object-verb|SOV]]. For example: 

{{Interlinear|indent=3|tʃimiŋ hoːko jagar-tan-a ho kaji|how.many people speak-MID.PROG-IND Ho language?|'How many people speak Ho language?'}}

== See also ==
* [[Subject–object–verb word order]]
* [[Object–subject–verb word order]]
* [[Object–verb–subject word order]]
* [[Verb–object–subject word order]]
* [[Verb–subject–object word order]]
* [[V2 word order]]
* [[:Category:Subject–verb–object languages]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Subject-verb-object}}
[[Category:Subject–verb–object languages| ]]
[[Category:Word order]]