Subject–object–verb

In linguistic typology, a subject–object–verb (SOV) language is one in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence appear or usually appear in that order. If English were SOV, "Sam oranges ate" would be an ordinary sentence, as opposed to the actual Standard English "Sam ate oranges". The label is often used for ergative languages such as Adyghe and Basque that do not have subjects but have an agent–object–verb order.

Incidence

Word order	English equivalent	Proportion of languages		Example languages
SOV	"She him loves."	45%		Sanskrit, Latin, Japanese, Ancient Greek, Korean, Hindi, PIE
SVO	"She loves him."	42%		English, Hausa, Mandarin, Russian
VSO	"Loves she him."	9%		Biblical Hebrew, Irish, Filipino, Tuareg
VOS	"Loves him she."	3%		Malagasy, Baure
OVS	"Him loves she."	1%		Apalaí, Hixkaryana
OSV	"Him she loves."	0%		Warao

Frequency distribution of word order in languages
surveyed by Russell S. Tomlin in 1980s^[1][2] (

)

Among natural languages with a word order preference, SOV is the most common type (followed by subject–verb–object; the two types account for more than 75% of natural languages with a preferred order).^[3]

Languages that have SOV structure include Ainu, Akkadian, Amharic, Armenian, Assamese, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bengali, Burmese, Burushaski, Dakota, Dogon languages, Elamite, Ancient Greek, Hajong, Hindi, Hittite, Hopi, Hungarian, Ijoid languages, Itelmen, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Kurdish, Classical Latin, Lakota, Manchu, Mande languages, Marathi, Mongolian, Navajo, Nepali, Newari, Nivkh, Nobiin, Pāli, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Quechua, Senufo languages, Seri, Sicilian, Sindhi, Sinhalese and most other Indo-Iranian languages, Somali and virtually all other Cushitic languages, Sumerian, Tibetan and nearly all other Tibeto-Burman languages, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and all other Dravidian languages, Tigrinya, Turkic languages, Turkish, Urdu, almost all Uto-Aztecan languages Uzbek, Welsh, Yukaghir, and virtually all Caucasian languages.

Standard Mandarin is SVO, but for simple sentences with a clear context, word order is flexible enough to allow for SOV or OSV. German and Dutch are considered SVO in conventional typology and SOV in generative grammar. For example, in German, a basic sentence such as "Ich sage etwas über Karl" ("I say something about Karl") is in SVO word order. When a noun clause marker like "dass" or "wer" (in English, "that" or "who" respectively) is used, the verb appears at the end of the sentence for the word order SOV. A possible example in SOV word order would be "Ich sage, dass Karl einen Gürtel gekauft hat." (A literal English translation would be "I say that Karl a belt bought has.") This is V2 word order.

A rare example of SOV word order in English is "I (subject) thee (object) wed (verb)" in the wedding vow "With this ring, I thee wed."^[4]

Properties

SOV languages have a strong tendency to use postpositions rather than prepositions, to place auxiliary verbs after the action verb, to place genitive noun phrases before the possessed noun, to place a name before a title or honorific ("James Uncle" and "Johnson Doctor" rather than "Uncle James" and "Doctor Johnson") and to have subordinators appear at the end of subordinate clauses. They have a weaker but significant tendency to place demonstrative adjectives before the nouns they modify. Relative clauses preceding the nouns to which they refer usually signals SOV word order, but the reverse does not hold: SOV languages feature prenominal and postnominal relative clauses roughly equally. SOV languages also seem to exhibit a tendency towards using a time–manner–place ordering of adpositional phrases.

In linguistic typology one can usefully distinguish two types of SOV language in terms of their type of marking:

1. dependent-marking has case markers to distinguish the subject and the object, which allows it to use the variant OSV word order without ambiguity. This type usually places adjectives and numerals before the nouns they modify and is exclusively suffixing without prefixes. SOV languages of this first type include Japanese and Tamil.
2. head-marking distinguishes subject and object by affixes on the verb rather than markers on the nouns. It also differs from the dependent-marking SOV language in using prefixes as well as suffixes, usually for tense and possession. Because adjectives in this type are much more verb-like than in dependent-marking SOV languages, they usually follow the nouns. In most SOV languages with a significant level of head-marking or verb-like adjectives, numerals and related quantifiers (like "all", "every") also follow the nouns they modify. Languages of this type include Navajo and Seri.

In practice, of course, the distinction between these two types is far from sharp. Many SOV languages are substantially double-marking and tend to exhibit properties intermediate between the two idealised types above.

Examples

Albanian

Sentence	Agimi librin e mori.
Words	Agimi	librin	e mori
Gloss	Agimi	the book	took
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	Agimi took the book. (It was Agimi who took the book)

Azerbaijani

Sentence	Yusif almanı yedi .
Words	Yusif	almanı	yedi
Gloss	Joseph	the apple	ate
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	Joseph ate the apple.

Basque

Basque does not have subjects but has an agent–object–verb order in transitive clauses:

Sentence	Enekok sagarra ekarri du.
Words	Enekok	sagarra	ekarri	du
Gloss	Eneko (+ERGative)	the apple	brought (to bring)	AUX has
Parts	Agent	Object	Verb
Translation	Eneko has brought the apple

Bengali

Sentence	আমি ভাত খাই
Words	আমি		ভাত		খাই
IPA	ami ami		bʰat bhat		kʰai khai
Gloss	I	(subj)	rice	(obj)	eat	(pres)
Parts	Subject		Object		Verb
Translation	I eat rice.

Burmese

Burmese is an analytic language.

Sentence	ငါက စက္ကူဘူးကို ဖွင့်တယ်။
Words	ငါ	က	စက္ကူဘူး	ကို	ဖွင့်	တယ်
IPA	ŋà nga	ɡa̰ ga.	seʔkù bú se'ku bu:	ɡò gou	pʰwìɴ hpwin.	dè de
Gloss	I	(subj)	box	(obj)	open	(pres)
Parts	Subject		Object		Verb
Translation	I open the box.

Chinese

Generally, Chinese varieties all feature SVO word order. However, especially in Standard Mandarin, SOV is tolerated as well. There is even a special structure to form an SOV sentence.

Note that SOV is generally used to make an emphasis on the object, such as in this case, the apple is a very specific apple.

Sentence	我把苹果吃了.
Words	我	把	苹果	吃了.
Transliteration	Wǒ	bǎ	píngguǒ	chīle
Gloss	I	sign for moving object before the verb	apple	ate
Parts	Subject	Sign	Object	Verb
Translation	I ate the apple. (The apple we were talking about earlier)

Dutch

Dutch is SOV combined with V2 word order. The non-finite verb (infinitive or participle) remains in final position, but the finite (i.e. inflected) verb is moved to the second position. Simple verbs look like SVO, non-finite verbs (participles, infinitives) and compound verbs follow this pattern:

Sentence	Ik wil je helpen.
Parts	Ik	wil	je	helpen
Gloss	I	want	you	to help
Parts	subject	fin.verb	object	nonfin.verb
Translation	I want to help you.

Pure SOV order is found in subordinate clauses:

Sentence	Ik zei dat ik je wil helpen.
Parts	Ik	zei	dat	ik	je	wil	helpen
Gloss	I	said	that	I	you	want	to help
Parts	subject	fin.verb	subord. conj.	subject	object	fin.verb	nonfin.verb
Translation	I said that I want to help you.

French

The French language usually uses a subject–verb–object structure, but when using most pronouns, it places enclitics before the verb. That is sometimes mistaken for SOV word order.

Sentence	Nous les avons.
Parts	Nous	les-avons.
Gloss	We	them/those-have
Parts	Subject	Object-Verb
Translation	We have those/them

German

German is SOV combined with V2 word order. The non-finite verb (infinitive or participle) remains in final position, but the finite (i.e. inflected) verb is moved to the second position. Simple verbs look like SVO, compound verbs follow this pattern:

Sentence
Words	Er	hat	einen Apfel	gegessen
Gloss	He	has	an apple	eaten
Parts	Subject	Auxiliary	Object	Verb
Translation	He ate an apple.

The word order changes also depending on whether the phrase is a main clause or a dependent clause. In dependent clauses, the word order is always entirely SOV (cf. also Inversion):

Subordinate Clause
Words	Weil	Horst	einen Apfel	gegessen	hat, ...
Gloss	Because	Horst	an apple	eaten	has, ...
Parts	Conjunction	Subject	Object	Verb	Auxiliary
Translation	Because Horst ate an apple, ...

Greek (Classical)

Sentence	ὁ ἀνὴρ τòν παĩδα φιλέει.
Words	ὁ ανήρ (hŏ anḗr)	τòν παĩδα (tờn pẵida)	φιλέει (philéei).
Gloss	The man	the child	loves.
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	The man loves the child.

Hajong

Sentence	Moi hugrâmrâ khasae.
Words	Moi	hugrâm	râ	kha	sae.
Gloss	I	guava	(accusative)	eat	(past tense, indicative)
Parts	Subject	Object		Verb
Translation	I ate the guava.

'râ' is a particle that indicates the accusative case and 'sae' indicates past tense declarative. Here, 'â' is pronounced as the 'i' in 'girl' and 'ae' is pronounced as the 'ay' in 'say'.

Hungarian

Hungarian word order is free, although the meaning slightly changes. Almost all permutations of the following sample are valid, but with stress on different parts of the meaning.

Sentence	Pista kenyeret szeletel.
Words	Pista	kenyeret	szeletel
Gloss	Pista	bread	slices
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	Pista slices bread.

Italian

The Italian language usually uses a subject–verb–object structure, but when an enclitic pronoun is used, this comes before the verb and the auxiliary.

Sentence	Io la sto mangiando
Parts	Io	la	sto	mangiando
Gloss	I	it	am	eating
Parts	Subject	Object	Auxiliary	Verb
Translation	I am eating it

Japanese

Sentence	私が箱を開けます。
Words	私	が	箱	を	開けます。
Romanization	watashi	ga	hako	o	akemasu.
Gloss	I	(sub)	box	(obj)	open(polite)
Parts	Subject		Object		Verb
Translation	I (am the one who) open(s) the box.

The markers が (ga) and を (o) are, respectively, subject and object markers for the words that precede them. Technically, the sentence could be translated a number of ways ("I open a box", "It is I who open the boxes", etc.), but this does not affect the SOV analysis.

Japanese has some flexibility in word order, so an OSV is also possible. (箱を私が開けます。)

Kannada

Sentence	ನಾನು ಮನೆ ಕಟ್ಟಿದೇನು .
Words	ನಾನು	ಮನೆ	ಕಟ್ಟಿದೇನು
Transliteration	Naanu	mane	kaTTidEnu
Gloss	I	the home	built
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I built the home.

Kazakh

Sentence	Дастан кітап оқыды.
Words	Дастан	кітап	оқыды
Transliteration	Dastan	kitap	oqıdı
Gloss	Dastan	a book	read
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	Dastan read a book.

Kashmiri

Like German and Dutch the Indo-Aryan language Kashmiri is SOV combined with V2 word order. The non-finite verb (infinitive or participle) remains in final position, but the finite (i.e. inflected) part of the verb appears in second position. Simple verbs look like SVO, whereas auxiliated verbs are discontinuous and adhere to this pattern:

Sentence	کور چہے ثونٹہ کہیوان
Transcription	kuur	cha	tsũũţh	khyevaan
Gloss	girl	is	apples	eating
Parts	Subject	Auxiliary	Object	Verb
Translation	The girl is eating apples.

Since Kashmiri is a V2 language if the word tsũũţh 'apple' comes first then the subject kuur 'girl' must follow the auxiliary cha 'is': tsũũţh cha kuur khyevaan [Lit. "Apples is girl eating."]

The word order changes also depending on whether the phrase is in a main clause or in certain kinds of dependent clause. For instance, in relative clauses, the word order is SOVAux:

Main clause + Subordinate Clause	میے ان سوہ کور یوس ثونٹہ کہیوان چہے
Transcription	=>	mye	eny	swa kuur	=>	ywas	tsũũţh	khyevaan	cha
Gloss	=>	I	brought	that girl	=>	who	apples	eating	is
Parts	Main clause =>	Subject	Verb	Object	Relative clause =>	Subject	Object	Verb	Auxiliary
Translation	I brought the girl who is eating apples.

Korean

Sentence	내가 상자를 연다.
Words	내	가	상자	를	여(ㄹ)	-ㄴ다.
Romanization	nae	ga	sangja	reul	yeo(l)	-nda.
Gloss	I	(nominative)	box	(accusative)	open	(present tense, indicative)
Parts	Subject		Object		Verb
Translation	I open the box.

'가 (ga)/이 (i)' is a particle that indicates the nominative case. '를 (reul)/을 (eul)' is a particle that indicates the accusative case. '-ㄴ다 (nda)' indicates present tense declarative. The consonant 'ㄹ (l)' in the verb stem (열-) is dropped before the suffix.

※ Here, '나 (na, I (pronoun))' is changed to '내 (nae)' before '가 (ga)'.

Latin

Classical Latin was an inflected language and had a very flexible word order and sentence structure, but the most usual word order was SOV.

Sentence	Servus puellam amat
Words	Servus	puellam	amat
Gloss	Slave (nom)	girl (acc)	loves
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	The slave loves the girl.

Again, there are multiple valid translations (such as "a slave") that do not affect the overall analysis.

Marathi

Sentence	कसाई बकरा मारतो.
Words	कसाई	बकरा	मारतो
Transliteration	kasāi	bakrā	mārto
Gloss	butcher	goat	kills
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	The butcher slaughters the goat.

Mongolian

Sentence	Би ном уншив.
Words	Би	ном	уншив
Transliteration	Bi	nom	unshiv
Gloss	I	a book	read
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I read a book.

Ossetian

Sentence	Алан чиныг кæсы.
Words	Алан	чиныг	кæсы
Transliteration	Alan	činyg	kæsy
Gloss	Alan	book	reads
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	Alan reads a book.

Pashto

Sentence	.زه کار کوم
Words	زه	کار	کوم
Gloss	زه (Subject Pronoun)	کار (Noun)	کوم (verb)
Transliteration	Zə	kaar	kawum
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I do the work.

Persian

Sentence	.من سیب می‌خورم
Words	من	سیب	می‌خورم
Gloss	I	apple	eat (first person present tense)
Transliteration	man	seeb	mikhoram
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I am eating an apple.

Portuguese

Portuguese is a SVO language, but it has some SOV constructs, albeit they tend to sound excessively formal or bookish in Brazil (as other constructs that are more prominent in Portugal), never being used colloquially in said country – it can even be said that it is foreign to Vernacular Brazilian Portuguese, in the case of the theory that Brazil's spoken and informal written registers present a diglossia.

When using a temporal adverb, optionally with the negative:

Nós já [não] os temos. Literally: We already [not] them have. Meaning: (Positive) We already have them. (Negative) We do not have them anymore.

Nós ainda [não] os temos. Literally: We still [not] them have. Meaning: (Positive) We still have them. (Negative) We have do not them yet..

When answering the phone: Sim, sou eu. Literally: Yes, am I. Meaning: Yes, it's I

SVO form: Sou eu mesmo/mesma, literally "It's me [indeed]".

There is an infix construction for the future and conditional tenses:

Eu fá-lo-ei amanhã. Literally: I do-it-will tomorrow. Meaning: I will do it tomorrow.

SVO form: Eu hei-de fazê-lo amanhã or eu farei o mesmo amanhã

On composed sentences, it is also allowed the SOV order for the last part in some situations like:

Ela não os comeu, mas comi-os eu. Literally: She did not eat them, but ate them I. Meaning: She did not eat them, but I did.

SVO form: Ela não comeu os mesmos, mas eu comi [a eles].

Russian

Russian is an inflected language and very flexible in word order; it allows all possible word combinations.

Sentence	Она его любит
Words	Она	его	любит
Transliteration	aná	yevó	lyúbit
Gloss	she (nom)	him (acc)	loves
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	She loves him

for example: Она любит его, любит его oна, любит oна его, and virtually all re-orderings of Russian sentence order are correct although this is often used in different situations to emphasize particular constituents of a sentence. Who loves him? 'she' is the one who loves him (emphatic meaning). In this way any part of the sentence can be emphasized without changing basic meaning (a convenience created by Russian's noun case system)

Spanish

The Spanish language usually uses a subject–verb–object structure, but when an enclitic pronoun is used, this comes before the verb and the auxiliary. Sometimes, in dual-verb constructions involving the infinitive and the gerund, the enclitic pronoun can be put before both verbs, or attached to the end of the second verb.

Sentence	Yo lo como
Parts	Yo	lo	como
Gloss	I	it	eat
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I eat it

Tamil

Sentence	நான் தான் பெட்டியை திறப்பேன்.
Words	நான்	தான்	பெட்டி	யை	திறப்பேன்。
Romanization	Nān	tān	peṭṭi	yai	tiṟappēn.
Gloss	I	(nominative)	box	(accusative)	open(indicative verb)
Parts	Subject		Object		Verb
Translation	I (am the one who) open(s) the box.

The தான் (tān) and யை (yai) are, respectively, nominative and accusative markers for the subject and object that respectively precede them. The தான் (tān) is optional in the Tamil language. The sentence may literally be translated as 'I [who am] the box [which] open shall.'

The sentence may also be translated, although less frequently, as பெட்டியை நான் தான் திறப்பேன் (Peṭṭiyai nāṉ tāṉ tiṟappēn), or simply, பெட்டியை திறப்பேன் (Peṭṭiyai tiṟappēn) as Tamil is a null-subject language because the indicative verb at the end of the word indicates the 1st person subject. This follows the object-subject-verb (OSV) pattern.

Telugu

Sentence	నేను పార్టీకి వెళ్తున్నాను.
Words	నేను	పార్టీకి	వెళ్తున్నాను.
Transliteration	Nēnu	pārtīki	veḷtunnānu.
Gloss	I	to party	am going.
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I am going to party.

Turkish

Sentence	Yusuf elmayı yedi.
Words	Yusuf	elmayı	yedi
Gloss	Joseph	the apple	ate
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	Joseph ate the apple.

Udmurt

Sentence	мoн книгa лыӟӥcькo.
Words	мoн	книгa	лыӟӥcькo.
Gloss	I	a book	to read
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I am reading a book.

Yi

Sentence	ꉢꌧꅪꋠ.
Words	ꉢ	ꌧꅪ	ꋠ .
Romaniz.	nga	syp-hni	zze.
Gloss	I	(an) apple	(to) eat.
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I eat an apple.

Uzbek

Sentence	Anvar Xivaga ketdi.
Words	Anvar	Xivaga	ketdi.
Gloss	Anvar (nom)	to Khiva (dat)	went
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	Anvar went to Khiva.

The marker "ga" is a dative case marker for the object that precedes it. Due to flexibility in word order in Uzbek, it is possible to transform the sentence into OSV as well ("Xivaga Anvar ketdi" / "It was Anvar who went to Khiva").

See also

• Topic-prominent language
• Subject–verb–object
• Object–subject–verb
• Object–verb–subject
• Verb–object–subject
• Verb–subject–object
• Category:Subject–object–verb languages

References

1. Introducing English Linguistics International Student Edition by Charles F. Meyer
2. Russell Tomlin, "Basic Word Order: Functional Principles", Croom Helm, London, 1986, page 22
3. Crystal, David (1997). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-55967-7.
4. Andreas Fischer, "'With this ring I thee wed': The verbs to wed and to marry in the history of English". Language History and Linguistic Modelling: A Festschrift for Jacek Fisiak on his 60th Birthday. Ed. Raymond Hickey and Stanislaw Puppel. Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs 101 (Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1997), pp.467-81