Word order facts for kids

Word order is how we arrange words when we speak or write. It's a key part of grammar, which is the set of rules for a language. Different languages often have different word orders.

For example, in English, we might say, "I play tennis only sometimes." But in German, the same idea is often "Ich spiele nur manchmal Tennis." This literally means "I play only sometimes tennis." In Norwegian, it's "Jeg spiller bare tennis noen ganger," which means "I play tennis only sometimes."

In Portuguese, you could say "Eu só jogo tênis algumas vezes" (I only play tennis sometimes). You could also change the order to "Eu jogo tênis só algumas vezes" (I play tennis only sometimes). But if you say "Eu jogo só tênis algumas vezes", it changes the meaning, so that order isn't usually allowed.

How Words Are Ordered in Sentences

When we talk about word order, we often look at three main parts of a simple sentence:

• Subject (S): Who or what is doing the action. (Example: Robert opens the door.)
• Verb (V): The action being done. (Example: Robert opens the door.)
• Object (O): Who or what receives the action. (Example: Robert opens the door.)

Different languages arrange these parts in different ways. The most common ways are Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), and Verb-Subject-Object (VSO).

Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)

In English, most simple sentences follow the Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order. For instance, in "Robert opens the door," "Robert" is the subject, "opens" is the verb, and "door" is the object.

SVO is the second most common word order around the world. About 42% of all languages use it. Some examples include Mandarin Chinese, Malay, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Italian, Thai, and Vietnamese. While some of these languages can use other word orders, they usually use SVO for the simplest sentences.

In English, changing the word order can change the meaning. If you say "The door opens Robert," it means something completely different! But in some languages, like Latin, you can change the order without changing the meaning. For example, "Robertus ianuam aperit" and "ianuam Robertus aperit" both mean "Robert opens the door." This is because Latin uses special word endings (called cases) to show what role each word plays in the sentence.

Subject-Object-Verb (SOV)

The Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order is the most common one globally, used by about 45% of all languages. It's very common in language families like the Altaic language family, which includes languages such as Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, and the Turkic languages.

In Japanese, for example, a simple sentence uses SOV. So, "Robert opens the door" becomes "Robert the door opens." Languages that use SOV often use postpositions. These are like prepositions but they come *after* the word they describe, showing its role in the sentence.

For instance, in Japanese, "Robert opens the door" is ロバートはドアを開ける (Robāto-wa doa-o akeru). Here, は (wa) after ロバート (Robāto, Robert) shows that Robert is the topic. And を (o) after ドア (doa, door) shows that "door" is the direct object.

Verb-Subject-Object (VSO)

The Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) word order is the third most common. It's used by about 9% of languages. You'll find VSO in language groups like Afroasiatic languages (such as Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic) and Celtic languages (like Irish, Welsh, and Cornish).

In VSO languages, "Robert opens the door" would be "Opens Robert the door." While Spanish sentences are usually SVO, VSO is also common. So, "Roberto abre la puerta" (Robert opens the door) can also be "Abre Roberto la puerta" (Opens Robert the door).

Other Word Orders

Besides SVO, SOV, and VSO, other word orders are much less common. Verb-Object-Subject (VOS) makes up about 3% of languages. Languages that start with the object, like Object-Verb-Subject (OVS) and Object-Subject-Verb (OSV), are very rare, each used by only about 0-1% of languages.

See also

In Spanish: Orden de palabras para niños