Basic word order
Subject, verb, object, then place and time: I drink coffee at work every morning.
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In English, the order of the words shows who does what. A normal sentence usually has this order: the subject, then the verb, then the object. Words for place and time usually come after that.
Subject, verb, object
The subject is the person or thing that does the action. The object is the person or thing that the action is about.
Subject | Verb | Object |
|---|---|---|
Anna | drinks | green tea. |
My parents | have | a small shop. |
I | love | this city. |
- Marco cooks dinner on Fridays.
- We need a new fridge.
- The children like their teacher.
- Incorrect: Green tea drinks Anna.
- Correct: Anna drinks green tea.The subject comes first, then the verb, then the object.
Why the order matters
If you change the order, you change the meaning. The person before the verb does the action.
- Maria often calls Tom.
(Maria phones. Tom answers.)
- Tom often calls Maria.
(Tom phones. Maria answers.)
- Incorrect: I English learn.
- Correct: I learn English.The object goes after the verb, not before it.
Nothing between the verb and its object
Keep the verb and its object together. Words like very much and well go after the object.
- I like this song very much.
- She speaks Spanish very well.
- Incorrect: I like very much this song.
- Correct: I like this song very much.Very much goes after the object, not between the verb and the object.
- Incorrect: He plays very well the guitar.
- Correct: He plays the guitar very well.
Place, then time
Words for the place and the time usually go at the end, after the object. When there are both, the place usually comes first.
Subject | Verb | Object | Place | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
I | drink | coffee | at work | every morning. |
We | play | tennis | in the park | on Sundays. |
- She works in a bank on Saturdays.
- I meet my friends in town after work.
- Incorrect: I every day learn English.
- Correct: I learn English every day.Every day goes at the end or at the start, not between the subject and the verb.
Time at the start
A time word can also start the sentence. Then the order after it is the same: subject, verb, object.
- Every morning I drink coffee at work.
- On Saturdays we visit my grandmother.
- Incorrect: On Saturdays visit we my grandmother.
- Correct: On Saturdays we visit my grandmother.After the time word, the subject still comes before the verb.
Short words: always, usually, often
Words like always, usually, often and never are different. They usually go before the main verb, not at the end like every day. There is more about them on their own page.
- I usually drink tea in the morning.
- We often eat out on Fridays.
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Where this rule sits
All A1 rulesQuestions and word order: all rules