Subject verb object

Subject verb object, normally expressed with its abbreviation SVO, is a term used in linguistic typology to designate a certain type of language taking into account the sequence unmarked or neutral of a language. It is the order most present in the languages of the world and the most common in creole languages and pidgins, which are languages mixed or simplified by a community. It tends to be the default order because the verb is used to divide the subject from the predicate, without the need to use particles to indicate where a subject or predicate begins or ends. It is, therefore, one of the most frequent sequences, and in fact it is used in most Western languages and a good number of Eastern ones. Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and English, some of the most widely spoken languages in the world, have this grammatical order.

Some languages that use this sequence are English, Italian (but not always), German in main clauses, Russian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili, Indonesian, and Chinese.

An example: «The children ate apples

Here are the other permutations in order from most common to least:

• Subject Object Verb (e.g., Japanese, Korean, Persian, Latin, Quechua languages, subordinate German prayers)

• Subject verb object (e.g., Welsh, Mixtec, Tagile, Irish and Arabic)
• Subject object verb (e.g., Fijian, Paez, Javanese and Malagasy)
• Subject object verb (e.g. xavante, urarina)
• Subject verb object (e.g., guarijío)