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.
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/.