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Concept
Verb–subject–object word order
Summary
In linguistic typology, a verb–subject–object (VSO) language has its most typical sentences arrange their elements in that order, as in Ate Sam oranges (Sam ate oranges). VSO is the third-most common word order among the world's languages, after SOV (as in Hindi and Japanese) and SVO (as in English and Mandarin Chinese).
Language families in which all or many of their members are VSO include the following:
the Insular Celtic languages (including Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton)
the Afroasiatic languages (including Berber, Assyrian, Egyptian, Arabic, Biblical Hebrew, and Ge'ez)
the Austronesian languages (including Tagalog, Visayan, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Kadazan Dusun, Hawaiian, Māori, and Tongan).
the Salishan languages
many Mesoamerican languages, such as the Mayan languages and Oto-Manguean languages
many Nilotic languages (including Nandi and Maasai)
Many languages, such as Greek, have relatively free word order, where VSO is one of many possible orders. Other languages, such as Spanish and Romanian, allow rather free subject-verb inversion. However, the most basic, common, and unmarked form in these languages is SVO, so they are classified as SVO languages.
Standard Arabic is an example of a language that uses VSO:
Arabic script is written right-to-left
Another Semitic language, Biblical Hebrew, uses VSO, as in Genesis 1:1, which is seen here, and many other places in the Tanakh:
et is a particle marking the direct object of the verb.
The Hebrew script is written from right to left.
VSO is one of six possible word orders in Latin. The order can appear in French and Spanish but not Italian.
Word order is rather flexible in Spanish, and VSO word order is allowed in practically all situations, but it is particularly common if some element other than the subject or the direct object functions as the subject of predication. Some sentences resemble V2 word order, with an adverb or oblique argument at the front:
Todos los días compra Juan el diario.
Official source
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