Advanced Grammar Topics: Word Order (Basic Syntax)

Written by Blackkdark on 15th July 2007

The Linguistic term dealing with word order structures is Syntax. I won't go into detail as to linguistic syntax and what that encompasses, but rather I'll go into the word order information one might find in a grammar book.

There are many different types of word order. In some language, such as English, word order shows the subject and the object(s) of a sentence. In other languages, it's just a common pattern. The language which I've encountered with the strangest patterns of word order is German.

Often they categorize the word orders by the position of the Subject (S), Object (O), Verb (V). For Example English is a standard SVO, or subject verb object. Most Romance languages (save Latin and perhaps Romanian) are SVO, but when they use object pronouns it turns into SOV. For example, in Spanish if you say Marco ve a Juan, (Marco sees Juan) then Marco le ve (Maro sees him).

Now many languages commonly use VSO in questions. English can be one of these, though we use a filler to do term for most questions. Some languages use VSO or VOS as common patterns. Irish uses a VSO pattern.

Some dependent clauses in English use a OSV pattern. An example that shows the object form could be: The man, whom I saw, left. Although in linguistic syntax we would call that movement.

Some languages don't need a specific word order, especially those which are heavily decline such as Latin and Russian. However, even these have some patterns. In the many forms of Latin, a preference for SOV or OSV or verb final patterns are prefered, however in poetry it's much more free.

Although each language is different, one must learn the syntactic structures of whatever language one is learning. Each one is unique, and each one has lots of patterns. Some are similar to whatever language is native to you, others are not.

As I mentioned above I find German to be the strangest in the area of syntax. German has several interesting word order issues. Now a simple German sentence can be SVO. But German, as well as most other Germanic language such as Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and Dutch, follow what I call the 2nd Position Verb rule. This states that now matter where the objects and subjects move, the conjugated verb or Finite verb stays in the second position. So this means that SVO or OVS are very common. Here is an example, You can say in German:
Ich sehe den Himmel. (I see the sky.) or
Den Himmel sehe ich. (The sky see I.)
We can see how the verb stays when the other elements move. Now for questions it is acceptable to have a verb in the first position, using a standard inverted word order. However for many statements the verb second ideal needs to stay in place.

Now German has a pattern also where the verb infinitives and the participles are placed at the end of a sentence or phrase. This makes it difficult for many non-native speakers to grasp. This also helps to explain some idioms such as:
Ich kann Deutsch (I can German)
which is short for
Ich kann Deutsch sprechen (I can speak German).
This idiom is also seen in Norwegian as well.

Now the pattern that Dutch and German have, but not really in the other Germanic languages, is the movement of the conjugated verb to the end of a dependent clause. This might seem strange at first, but one must learn to notice it. And example would be: Der Mann, den ich gestern sah, ist gelassen. (The man, whom I yesterday saw, left.)
Instead of; The man, whom I saw yesterday, left.
This is the hardest part of German Grammar. It's something to practice.