Word Order
Course subject(s)
Grammar
Theory
Here’s some terminology first: the Subject (S) of the sentence is “het onderwerp”, the Object (O) “het lijdend voorwerp” and the verb (V) “het werkwoord”.
Examples:
Tom | painted | the door | |
S | V | O | |
The architect | designed | the building | |
S | V | O |
In English regular sentences (not questions) the order cannot be changed, just remember S-V-O. In Dutch, the order can change: Gisteren schilderde Tom de deur. This is impossible in English:Yesterday painted Tom the door is WRONG.
Another example: Tom heeft pijn in zijn arm, omdat hij de deur geschilderd heeft (SOV), is NOT:Tom’ s arm is hurting because he the door painted has.
Actually, English is easier here, so we hope that helps.
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Self Study English for Dutch Students by TU Delft OpenCourseWare is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://ocw.tudelft.nl/courses/self-study-english-dutch-students/.