Object–subject–verb word order

Word order	English equivalent	Proportion of languages		Example languages
SOV	"She him loves."	45%	45	Ancient Greek, Bengali, Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latin, Malayalam, Meitei (Manipuri), Persian, Sanskrit, Urdu, etc
SVO	"She loves him."	42%	42	Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hausa, Italian, Malay, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese, etc
VSO	"Loves she him."	9%	9	Biblical Hebrew, Classical Arabic, Irish, Te Reo Māori, Filipino, Tuareg-Berber, Welsh
VOS	"Loves him she."	3%	3	Malagasy, Baure, Car
OVS	"Him loves she."	1%	1	Apalaí, Hixkaryana
OSV	"Him she loves."	0%		Warao

Frequency distribution of word order in languages surveyed by Russell S. Tomlin in 1980s
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In linguistic typology, object–subject–verb (OSV) or object–agent–verb (OAV) is a classification of languages, based on whether the structure predominates in pragmatically-neutral expressions. An example of this would be "Oranges Sam ate."

Unmarked word order

Natural languages

OSV is rarely used in unmarked sentences, which use a normal word order without emphasis. Most languages that use OSV as their default word order come from the Amazon basin, such as Xavante, Jamamadi, Apurinã, Warao, Kayabí and Nadëb. An exception to that is Mizo and its sister languages, Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages, part of the Tibeto-Burman languages. Here is an example from Apurinã:

anana

pineapple

nota

I

apa

fetch

anana nota apa

pineapple I fetch

I fetch a pineapple

British Sign Language (BSL) normally uses topic–comment structure, but its default word order when topic–comment structure is not used is OSV.

Marked word order

Various languages allow OSV word order but only in marked sentences, which emphasise part or all of the sentence.

Arabic

Classical Arabic is generally VSO but allows OSV in marked sentences (ones using traditional Arabic declension). For example, Verse 5 of Al-Fatiha reads:

إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين.

إياك

Iyyāka

نعبد

naʿbudu

وإياك

wa-iyyāka

نستعين

nastaʿīn

إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين

Iyyāka naʿbudu wa-iyyāka nastaʿīn

You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help.

The construction is less used in Modern Standard Arabic, which tends not to use marked sentences, and is generally absent in the colloquial varieties of Arabic, which are generally not declined and tend to observe strict SVO order.

Chinese

Passive constructions in Chinese follow an OSV (OAV) pattern through the use of the particle 被:

这个

Zhège

this

橘子

júzi

orange

被

bèi

by

我

wǒ

me

吃

chī

eat

掉

diào

 

了

le

PFV

这个 橘子 被 我 吃 掉 了

Zhège júzi bèi wǒ chī diào le

this orange by me eat {} PFV

The orange experienced me eating it.

Finnish

Finnish has a remarkably lax word order and so emphasis on the object is often marked simply by putting it first in the sentence. An example would be "Sinua minä rakastan!", which means word by word would be in English "you I love!" And expresses a contrast to loving maybe someone else. That word order is totally natural and is quite often used for emphasis. Another example could be "Suklaata se kyllä suostuu syömään", or word by word "Chocolate he/she/they(sg.) instead consents to-eat", which expresses the contrast of refusing to eat something else (like something more healthy).

Hebrew

In Modern Hebrew, OSV is often used instead of the normal SVO to emphasise the object. אני אוהב אותה would mean "I love her", but "אותה אני אוהב" would mean "It is she whom I love". Possibly an influence of Germanic (via Yiddish), as Jewish English uses a similar construction ("You, I like, kid") see above much more than many other varieties of English and often with the "but" left implicit.

Hungarian

In Hungarian, OSV emphasises the subject:

A szócikket én szerkesztettem = The article/I/edited (It was I, not somebody else, who edited the article).

Korean and Japanese

Korean and Japanese have SOV by default, but since they are topic-prominent languages, they often seem to be OSV when the object is topicalized. Here is an examplein Korean:

그 사과는 제가 먹었어요.

그

geu

that

 

사과–는

sagwa-neun

apple-TOP

Object

제–가

je-ga

I.POL-NOM

Subject

먹–었–어–요

meog-eoss-eo-yo

eat-PST-DEC-POL

Verb

그 사과–는 제–가 먹–었–어–요

geu sagwa-neun je-ga meog-eoss-eo-yo

that apple-TOP I.POL-NOM eat-PST-DEC-POL

{} Object Subject Verb

As for the apple, I eat it. (or) The apple, I eat.

An almost-identical syntax is possible in Japanese:

そのりんごは私が食べました。

その

sono

that

 

りんご゠は

ringo-wa

apple-TOP

Object

私゠が

watashi-ga

I.POL-NOM

Subject

食べ゠まし゠た

tabe-mashi-ta

eat-POL-PST/PERF

Verb

その りんご゠は 私゠が 食べ゠まし゠た

sono ringo-wa watashi-ga tabe-mashi-ta

that apple-TOP I.POL-NOM eat-POL-PST/PERF

{} Object Subject Verb

As for the apple, I eat it. (or) The apple, I eat.

Malayalam

OSV is one of the permissible word orders in Malayalam, the other being SOV.

Nahuatl

OSV emphasizes the object in Nahuatl.

Cah

IND

cihuah

women

in

TOP

niquintlazohtla

I-them-love

Cah cihuah in niquintlazohtla

IND women TOP I-them-love

It is the women whom I love.

Portuguese

OSV is possible in Portuguese to emphasize the object.

De maçã eu não gosto

De

of

 

maçã

apple

Object

eu

I

Subject

não

NEG

 

gosto

like

Verb

De maçã eu não gosto

of apple I NEG like

{} Object Subject {} Verb

I do not like apple

Turkish

OSV is used in Turkish to emphasize the subject:

Yemeği ben pişirdim.

yemeğ-i

meal-ACC

Object

ben

I

Subject

pişir-di-m

cook-PST-1SG

Verb

yemeğ-i ben pişir-di-m

meal-ACC I cook-PST-1SG

Object Subject Verb

It was I, not somebody else, who cooked the meal.

See also

• Subject–object–verb
• Subject–verb–object
• Object–verb–subject
• Verb–object–subject
• Verb–subject–object
• Yoda, a popular Star Wars character who uniquely speaks in object–subject–verb order
• Yoda conditions - a style of writing conditionals in computer programming languages