Subject–object–verb word order

In linguistic typology, a subject–object–verb (SOV) language is one in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence always 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 term is often loosely used for ergative languages like Adyghe and Basque that really have agents instead of subjects.

Incidence

Order	Example	Usage		Languages
SOV	"Cows grass eat."	45%	45	Bengali, Burmese, Hindustani, Japanese, Korean, Oromo, Persian, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish
SVO	"Cows eat grass."	42%	42	Chinese, Hausa, Hebrew (modern), Arabic (modern spoken varieties), Malay, Swahili, Thai, Vietnamese, Standard Average European, etc
VSO	"Eat cows grass."	9%	9	Filipino, Geʽez, Irish, Māori, Tuareg-Berber, Welsh
VOS	"Eat grass cows."	3%	3	Car, Fijian, Malagasy, Qʼeqchiʼ, Terêna
OVS	"Grass eat cows."	1%	1	Hixkaryana, Urarina
OSV	"Grass cows eat."	0%		Tobati, Warao
Frequency distribution of word order in languages surveyed by Russell S. Tomlin in the 1980s ()

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).

Languages that have SOV structure include Ainu, Akkadian, Amharic, Armenian, Assamese, Assyrian, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bengali, Burmese, Burushaski, Cherokee, Dakota, Dogon languages, Elamite, Ancient Greek, Gujarati, Hajong, Hindi, Hittite, Hopi, Ijoid languages, Itelmen, Japanese, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Korean, Kurdish, Classical Latin, Lakota, Manchu, Mande languages, Marathi, Mongolian, Navajo, Nepali, Newari, Nivkh, Nobiin, Omaha, Pāli, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Quechua, Senufo languages, Seri, Sicilian, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Sunuwar 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, Turkish and other Turkic languages, Urdu, almost all Uto-Aztecan languages, Uzbek, 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. Some Romance languages are SVO, but when the object is an enclitic pronoun, word order allows for SOV (see the examples below). German and Dutch are considered SVO in conventional typology and SOV in generative grammar. They can be considered SOV but with V2 word order as an overriding rule for the finite verb in main clauses, which results in SVO in some cases and SOV in others. For example, in German, a basic sentence such as "Ich sage etwas über Karl" ("I say something about Karl") is in SVO word order. Non-finite verbs are placed at the end, however, since V2 only applies to the finite verb: "Ich will etwas über Karl sagen" ("I want to say something about Karl"). In a subordinate clause, the finite verb is not affected by V2, and also appears at the end of the sentence, resulting in full SOV order: "Ich sage, dass Karl einen Gürtel gekauft hat." (Word-for-word: "I say that Karl a belt bought has.")

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."

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 languages 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. Adjectives in this type are much more verb-like than in dependent-marking SOV languages, and hence 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.

Many languages that have shifted to SVO-word order from the original SOV retain (at least to an extent) the properties: for example, the Finnish language (high usage of postpositions etc.)

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)

• This sequence (SOV) occurs only in the poetic language.

Azerbaijani

Sentence	Ümid ağac əkəcək.
Words	Ümid	ağac	əkəcək
Gloss	Umid	tree	will plant
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	Umid will plant a tree.

Armenian

Sentence	Իմ անունը Շուշանիկ է։
Words	Իմ	անունը	Շուշանիկ	է
Romanization	Im	anunȳ	Šušanik	ē
Gloss	My	name	Shushanik	is
Parts	Subject		Object	Verb
Translation	My name is Shushanik.

Basque

Basque in short sentences, usually, subject or agent–object–verb; in long sentences, usually, subject or agent-verb-objects):

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

Sentence	Eneritzek eskatu du inork irakurri nahi ez zuen liburua
Words	Eneritzek	eskatu	du	+ + +
Gloss	Eneritz (+ERGative)	asked for	AUX has	+ + +
Parts	Agent	Verb		Objects
Translation	Eneritz requested the book nobody wanted to read

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.

SOV structure is also widely used in railway contact in order to clarify the objective of the order.

The following example that uses 把 is controversially labelled as SOV. 把 may be interpreted as a verb, meaning "to hold". However, it does not mean to hold something literally or physically. Rather, the object is held mentally, and then another verb is acted on the object.

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 to	you	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 places proclitics before the verb when using most pronouns, which 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

Georgian

The Georgian language isn't extremely rigid with regards to word order, but is typically either SOV or SVO.

Sentence	მე ქართველი ვარ.
Transliteration	me kartveli var
Parts	მე	ქართველი	ვარ.
Gloss	I	Georgian	[I] am
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I am (a) Georgian.

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	Er hat einen Apfel gegessen.
Words	Er	hat	einen Apfel	gegessen.
Gloss	He	has	an apple	eaten.
Parts	Subject	Auxiliary	Object	Verb
Translation	He has eaten 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	Weil Horst einen Apfel gegessen hat.
Words	Weil	Horst	einen Apfel	gegessen	hat.
Gloss	Because	Horst	an apple	eaten	has.
Parts	Conjunction	Subject	Object	Verb	Auxiliary
Translation	Because Horst has eaten an apple.

Greek (Classical)

Sentence	ὁ ἀνὴρ τòν παĩδα φιλεῖ.
Words	ὁ ανήρ (ho anḗr)	τòν παĩδα (tòn paîda)	φιλεῖ (phileî).
Gloss	The man	the child	loves.
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	The man loves the child.

Hajong

Sentence	Moi hugre'mre' khasei.
Words	Moi	hugre'm	re'	kha	sei.
Gloss	I	guava	(accusative)	eat	(past tense, indicative)
Parts	Subject	Object		Verb
Translation	I ate the guava.

're is a particle that indicates the accusative case and 'sei' indicates past tense declarative. Here, 'e is pronounced as the 'i' in 'girl' and 'ei' is pronounced as the 'ay' in 'say'.

Hindi

Sentence	मैं सेब खाता हूँ।
Words	मैं	सेब	खाता हूँ
Romanization	main	seb	khaataa hun
Gloss	I	an apple	eat (simple present. m.)
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I eat an apple.

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	(w)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 ((w)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 ಕಟ್ಟಿದೆನು .
Words	ನಾನು	ಮನೆ	ಕಟ್ಟಿದೆನು
Transliteration	Naanu	mane	kaTTidenu
Gloss	I	the house	built
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I built the house.

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	chhi	tsũũţh	khyevaan
Gloss	girl	is	apples	eating
Parts	Subject	Auxiliary	Object	Verb
Translation	The girl is eating apples.

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

Also, the word order changes 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	chhi
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.

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.

Like in Japanese, OSV is possible too. (Кітапті Дастан оқыды.)

Korean

Sentence	내가 상자를 연다.
Words	내	가	상자	를	여(ㄹ)	ㄴ	다.
Romanization	nae	ga	sangja	reul	yeo(l)	n	da.
Gloss	I	(subject)	box	(object)	open	(present)	(indicative)
Parts	Subject		Object		Verb
Translation	I open the box.

'가 (Ga)/이 (i)' is a particle that indicates the subject. '를 (Reul)/을 (eul)' is a particle that indicates the object. 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)'.

Kurdish

Sentence	Ez xwarin dixwim.
Words	Ez	xwarin	dixwim
Gloss	I	food	eat
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I eat food.

Kyrgyz

Sentence	Биз алма жедик
Words	Биз	алма	жедик
Transliteration	Biz	alma	jedik
Gloss	We	an apple	ate
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	We ate an apple

Latin

Main article: Latin word order

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

Malayalam

Sentence	ഞാൻ പുസ്തകത്തെ എടുത്തു.
Words	ഞാൻ	പുസ്തകം	എ	എടുത്തു
Transliteration	ñān	pustakam̥	(-e) (accusative)*	eṭuttu
Gloss	I	(the) book	took
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I took the book.

• Pustakam̥ + -e = pustakatte (പുസ്തകത്തെ)

Manchu

Sentence	ᠪᡳ ᠪᡠᡩᠠ ᠪᡝ ᠵᡝᠮᠪᡳ
Words	ᠪᡳ	ᠪᡠᡩᠠ	ᠪᡝ	ᠵᡝᠮᠪᡳ
Transliteration	bi	buda	be	jembi
Gloss	I	meal	(accusative)	eat
Parts	Subject	Object	Grammatical marker	Verb
Translation	I eat a meal.

Marathi

Sentence	तो बियाणे पेरतो.
Words	तो	बियाणे	पेरतो
Transliteration	Tō	biyāṇē	pēratō
Gloss	he	seeds	sows
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	He sows seeds.

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.

Nepali

Sentence	म विद्यालय जान्छु ।
Words	म	विद्यालय	जान्छु
Transliteration	Ma	vidyalaya	jānchhu
Gloss	I	school	go (simple present)
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I go to school.

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	kawəm
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 an SVO language, but it has some SOV constructs.

In case of proclisis:

Sentence	Todos aqui te amam.
Word	Todos	aqui	te	amam
Gloss	Everybody	here	you (proclitic)	love
Parts	Subject		Object	Verb
Translation	Everybody here loves you.

Sentence	Aquilo me entristeceu.
Word	Aquilo	me	entristeceu
Gloss	It/that	me (proclitic)	saddened
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	It saddened me.

When using a temporal adverb, optionally with the negative:

Sentence	Nós já [não] os temos.
Word	Nós	já [não]	os	temos
Gloss	We	already [not]	them (masc.)	have
Parts	Subject		Object	Verb
Translation	(Positive) We already have them. (Negative) We do not have them anymore.

Sentence	Nós ainda [não] os temos.
Word	Nós	ainda [não]	os	temos
Gloss	We	still [not]	them (masc.)	have
Parts	Subject		Object	Verb
Translation	(Positive) We still have them. (Negative) We have do not them yet.

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

Sentence	Eu fá-lo-ei amanhã.
Word	Eu	fá-lo-ei	amanhã
Gloss	I	do-it-will	tomorrow
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I will do it tomorrow.

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

Punjabi

Punjabi is very flexible in word order and is written in two writing systems, Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi - which is written from right-to-left.

Sentence	Gurmukhi	ਮੈਨੂੰ ਇੱਕ ਸੇਬ ਚਾਹੀਦਾ ਹੈ।
	Shahmukhi	مَیں نُوں اِکّ سیب چاہیدا ہے۔
Words	Gurmukhi	ਮੈਨੂੰ	ਇੱਕ	ਸੇਬ	ਚਾਹੀਦਾ ਹੈ
	Shahmukhi	مَیں نُوں	اِکّ	سیب	چاہیدا ہے
Romanization		mainu	ikk	seb	chaahida hai
Gloss		I (dative)	an	apple	want
Parts		Subject	Object		Verb
Translation		I want an apple.

Quechua

Quechuan languages have standard SOV word order. The following example is from Bolivian Quechua.

Sentence	Ñuqaqa papata mikhurqani.
Words	Ñuqa-qa	papa-ta	mikhu-rqa-ni
Gloss	I-TOPIC	potato-ACCUSATIVE	eat-PAST-1SG
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I ate potatoes.

Russian

Russian is an inflected language and very flexible in word order; it allows all possible word combinations. However, it is generally considered a SVO language.

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, such as: 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)

Sanskrit

Sanskrit, like its predecessor, Vedic, is an inflected language and very flexible in word order; it allows all possible word combinations. However, it is generally considered a SOV language.

Sentence	tát t(ú)vam ási
Words	tát	t(ú)vam	ási
Gloss	that	you	are
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	That you are.

Somali

Somali generally uses the subject–object–verb structure when speaking formally.

Sentence	Aniga baa albaabka furay
Words	Aniga	baa	albaab(ka)	furay
Gloss	I	Focus	(the) door	opened
Parts	Subject		Object	Verb
Translation	I opened the door

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

Talysh

Sentence	Merd kitob handedə.
Words	Merd	kitob	handedə
Gloss	Man	book	reading
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	The man is reading a book.

Tamil

Tamil being a strongly head-final language, the basic word-order is SOV. However, since it is highly inflected, word order is flexible and is used for pragmatic purposes. That is, fronting a word in a sentence adds emphasis on it; for instance, a VSO order would indicate greater emphasis on the verb, the action, than on the subject or the object. However, such word-orders are highly marked, and the basic order remains SOV.

Sentence	நான் பெட்டியை திறப்பேன்.
Words	நான்	பெட்டியை	திறப்பேன்.
Romanization	Nān	peṭṭi-yai	tiṟa-pp-ēn.
Gloss	I-Nom.	box-Acc.	open-Fut.-1P.Sing.
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I will open the box.

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 the party.

Tigrinya

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

Sentence	ዳኒኤል ኩዑሶ ቀሊዑ
Words	ዳኒኤል	ኩዑሶ	ቀሊዑ
Gloss	Daniel	ball	kicked
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	Daniel kicked the ball.

Turkish

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

Like all other Turkic languages, Turkish has flexibility in word order, so any order is possible. For example, in addition to the SOV order above, this sentence could also be constructed as OSV (Elmayı Yusuf yedi.), OVS (Elmayı yedi Yusuf.), VSO (Yedi Yusuf elmayı.), VOS (Yedi elmayı Yusuf.), or SVO (Yusuf yedi elmayı.), but these other orders carry a connotation of emphasis of importance on either the subject, object, or the verb. The SOV order is the "default" one that does not connote particular emphasis on any part of the sentence.

Udmurt

Sentence	мoн книгa лыӟӥcькo.
Words	мoн	книгa	лыӟӥcькo.
Romanization	mon	kniga	lyjis'ko
Gloss	I	a book	to read
Parts	Subject	Object	Verb
Translation	I am reading a book.

Urdu

Sentence	.مَیں نے اُسے دیکھا
Words	مَیں	نے	اُسے	دیکھا
Romanization	main	ne	use	dekha
Gloss	I (eragative)		him/her	saw
Parts	Subject		Object	Verb
Translation	I saw him/her.

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").

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.

Zarma

Sentence	Hama na mo ŋwa .
Words	Hama	na	mo	ŋwa
Gloss	Hama	(completed aspect)	rice	eat
Parts	Subject	Grammatical marker	Object	Verb
Translation	Hama ate rice.

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