Subject–object–verb

Linguistic typology
Morphological
	Isolating
	Synthetic
	Polysynthetic
	Fusional
	Agglutinative
Morphosyntactic
	Alignment
	Accusative
	Ergative
	Split ergative
	Philippine
	Active–stative
	Tripartite
	Marked nominative
	Inverse marking
	Syntactic pivot
	Theta role
Word order
	VO languages
	Subject–verb–object
	Verb–subject–object
	Verb–object–subject
	OV languages
	Subject–object–verb
	Object–subject–verb
	Object–verb–subject
	Time–manner–place
	Place–manner–time
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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, then "Sam oranges ate" (or I thee wed.) 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 [edit]

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, Dogon languages, Elamite, Ancient Greek, Hindi, Hittite, Hopi, Hungarian, Ijoid languages, Itelmen, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Kurdish, Classical Latin, Manchu, Mande languages, Marathi, Mongolian, Navajo, Nepali, Newari, Nivkh, Nobiin, Pāli, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Quechua, Sanskrit, Senufo languages, Seri, Sicilian, Sindhi, Sinhalese and most other Indo-Iranian languages, Somali and virtually all other Cushitic languages, Sumerian, Tagalog, Tibetan and nearly all other Tibeto-Burman languages, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and all other Dravidian languages, Tigrinya, Turkic languages, Turkish, Urdu, 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.

Aharon Dolgopolsky supposes the Proto-Nostratic to be SOV.

Properties [edit]

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:

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.
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 [edit]

Albanian [edit]

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)

Arabic [edit]

Sentence	.مَا كَانُوا إِيَّانَا يَعْبُدُونَ
Words	مَا كَانُوا	إِيَّانَا	يَعْبُدُونَ
Gloss	مَا كَانُوا (are not+nominative "u" ending)	إِيَّانَا (us+accusative "a" ending)	يَعْبُدُونَ (they worship+3. masculine plural "un" ending)
Transliteration	mā kānū	ʾiyyānā	yaʿbudūna
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	They do not worship us.

Azerbaijani [edit]

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

Basque [edit]

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	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	Eneko has brought the apple

Burmese [edit]

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 [edit]

Generally, Chinese languages are all SVO languages. However, especially in Mandarin, SOV is tolerated as well. There is even a special structure to form a SOV sentence.

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.

Dutch [edit]

Dutch is partly SOV. For simple verbs, it is generally SVO, but for compound verbs, the finite (ie. inflected) verb remains in second position while the non-finite verb (infinitive or participle) is moved to the end of the clause.

Sentence	Wij hebben je geholpen.
Parts	Wij	hebben	je	geholpen
Gloss	We	have	you	helped
Parts	Subject	aux	Object	Verb
Translation	We helped you

French [edit]

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 [edit]

German is partially SOV. For simple verbs, it is SVO, but for compound verb structures, the auxiliary, which is a finite (ie. inflected) verb, appears in second position while the non-finite verb (infinitive or participle) appears at the end of the clause.

Sentence
Words	Horst	hat	einen Apfel	gegessen
Gloss	Horst	has	an apple	eaten
Parts	Subject	Auxiliary	Object	Verb
Translation	Horst 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, ...

Hungarian [edit]

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

Kazakh [edit]

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

Italian [edit]

The Italian language usually uses a subject–verb–object structure.

Sentence	Io sto mangiando una mela
Parts	I	am
Gloss	I	am
Parts	Subject	Object-Verb
Translation	I am eating an apple

Japanese [edit]

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。)

Korean [edit]

Sentence	내가 상자를 연다.
Words	내	가	상자	를	연	다.
Romanization	nae	ga	sangja	reul	yeon	da.
Gloss	I	(nominative)	box	(accusative)	open	(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. '다 (da)' indicates the declarative.

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

Latin [edit]

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.

Pashto [edit]

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

Persian [edit]

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.

Russian [edit]

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
Gloss	Она (nom)	его (acc)	любит
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	She loves him

Telugu [edit]

Sentence	రాముడు బడికి వెళ్తాడు.
Words	రాముడు	బడికి	వెళ్తాడు.
Transliteration	Rāmuḍu	baḍiki	veḷtāḍu
Gloss	Ramu	to school	goes.
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	Ramu goes to school.

Tamil [edit]

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.

Turkish [edit]

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

Udmurt [edit]

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

References [edit]

^ Introducing English Linguistics International Student Edition by Charles F. Meyer
^ Russell Tomlin, "Basic Word Order: Functional Principles", Croom Helm, London, 1986, page 22
^ Crystal, David (1997). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (2nd edition ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-55967-7.

[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 edition ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-55967-7.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Word order	English equivalent	Proportion of languages		Example languages
SOV	"He him loves."	45%	45	Japanese, Latin, Tamil
SVO	"He loves him."	42%	42	English, Mandarin, Russian
VSO	"Loves he him."	9%	9	Hebrew, Irish, Zapotec
VOS	"Loves him he."	3%	3	Malagasy, Baure
OVS	"Him loves he."	1%	1	Apalai?, Hixkaryana?
OSV	"Him he loves."	0%		Warao