LEARN ENGLISH SENTENCE ORDER

In English the word order within a sentence is as follows: Subject + Verb + Complement

Example

Subject: the person, animal or object that performs the action of the verb or that the verbs speak about.

Verb: It tells you the action of the sentence.

Complement: The result of the action or the person or object that receives the action of the verb.

In English the verb always needs a subject. In the affirmative sentence the subject is always going to go in front of the verb and this order will remain even if other elements take part in the sentence.

Example

Mary goes to school. (Mary va al colegio) Subject + verb + Object

At nine o'clock Mary goes to school. (A las nueve en punto Mary va al colegio) Object + subject + verb + object

This order will also be present in more complex sentences where two or more prepositions are combined.

Example

I eat a pizza because I am hungry. (Me como una pizza porque tengo hambre) Subject + verb + object + conjuction + subject + verb

For the negative sentences, in Spanish we place "no" in front of the verb and in English it is basically the same. We use "DON'T" for all the persons of the verb except for "HE, SHE, IT" that we use "DOESN'T" in the present simple tense and "DIDN´T" in the past simple tense.

Example

I don't study Italian. (No estudio italiano)

She doesn't study Italian. (Ella no estudia italiano)

I didn't study Italian at university. (No estudié italiano en la universidad)

She didn't study Italian at university. (Ella no estudió italiano en la universidad)

For the interrogative (in the present simple tense) we will use "DO" for all the persons of the verb except for "HE, SHE, IT" that we use "DOES" at the beginning of the sentence. Then the rest of the sentence stays the same.

For the simple past tense we will use "DID" at the beginning of the question for all the persons.

Example

Do you speak French? (¿Hablas francés?)

Does she speak French? (¿Habla ella francés?)

Did you watch TV yesterday? (¿Viste la televisión ayer?)

Did she watch TV yesterday? (¿Vió ella la televisión ayer?)