Subject–verb–object word order

In linguistic typology, subject–verb–object (SVO) describes a way that sentences are built where the subject comes first, followed by the verb, and then the object. This order is used in many languages around the world. For example, in English, we say "Sam ate apples," where "Sam" is the subject, "ate" is the verb, and "apples" is the object.

SVO is the second most common sentence structure among known languages, after subject–object–verb (SOV). When we look at all the languages people speak, more than 87% use either SVO or SOV order. This shows just how important these two patterns are for how we communicate. The term SVO can also apply to some ergative languages, even though they do things a little differently with their subjects.

Properties

In languages where the subject comes first, followed by the verb and then the object, there are some common patterns. For example, these languages usually put phrases that describe nouns after the nouns themselves. Most of these languages, like English, use words called prepositions to show relationships, but a few use a different style called postpositions.

Many of these languages place words that show ownership before the noun, similar to how some European languages do. Also, in most of these languages, words that describe qualities or numbers usually come after the nouns they describe, though there are some exceptions.

Main verbs in these languages are often helped by helper words, like "am" or "should," before the main action word.

Language differences and variation

An example of SVO order in English is: "Andy ate cereal."

In simple languages like English, the order of subject, verb, and object stays the same to show what each part of the sentence means. For example, "The dog bit Andy" and "Andy bit the dog" have very different meanings.

Some languages, such as Russian, Finnish, Ukrainian, Hungarian, and Swedish, do not follow a strict order. They can change the order to give extra meaning. For instance, in Russian, "любит она его" (loves she him) can mean "she acts this way because she LOVES him."

In Polish, the basic order is SVO, but changing the order can emphasize a part of the sentence. For example, "Roweru ci nie kupię_" means "I won't buy you a bicycle."

Turkish usually uses SOV order, but sometimes uses SVO to stress the verb. For example, "John terk etti Mary'yi" answers the question "What did John do with Mary?"

Swedish is mostly SVO but allows flexible word order for emphasis. For example, “Sam åt äpplen” means “Sam ate apples,” but “Äpplen åt Sam” is also correct, emphasizing the object.

German, Dutch, and Kashmiri sometimes use SVO but are actually verb-second languages. They use SOV in subordinate clauses. For example, in German, "Er weiß, dass ich jeden Sonntag das Auto wasche" means "He knows that I wash the car each Sunday."

English also shows traces of this flexible order in certain expressions, like "In the garden sat a cat."