Word Order

语序

Sub-pages and possible titles

Basic order: topic + subject + predicate
- SVO language, but unusually has modifiers preceding the modified
  - e.g. 那两个喝醉的人打起来了。
  - In many cases uses many postpositions rather than prepositions
English vs Mandarin word order
- English: Who, What, Where, When
- Mandarin: Who, When, Where, What
Mandarin biggest to smallest units sequence
In-situ question words
Topic-comment structure
Topic and subject can sometimes be omitted
Time, manner place (TMP) adverb sequence
More detailed word order:
- Subject, verb, direct object
- Subject, verb, indirect object, direct object
- Subject, prepositional phrase, verb, direct object
- Subject, location phrase, verb phrase
- Subject, time, manner, place, predicate