Spanish has more word order possibilities than English. Objects can be placed in front
of the verb and the verb itself can stand in initial position. Some possible equivalents for ‘the man was reading the book to the little girl’ (S + V + DO + IO) are:
El hombre leía el libro a la niña (S + V + DO + IO).
Leía el hombre el libro a la niña (V + S + DO + IO).
A la niña le leía el hombre el libro (IO + V + S + DO).
El libro lo leía el hombre a la niña (DO + V + S + IO).
The choice among these various possibilities has to do with topicalization and stress. Spanish tends to placethe element which has just been a subject of interest (the topic, ‘old’ information) first in the sentence, and new information, or elements on which it is wished to lay some kind of stress or contrast, last. This is clearest in statements which are answers to questions asking for information. Examples are:
(a)
–¿Quién llama?
‘Who’s calling?’
–Llama Pedro.
‘Pedro is calling.’
–¿Qué hace Pedro?
‘What is Pedro doing?’
–Pedro habla.
‘Pedro is talking.’
(b)
Me gusta la pizza vegetariana.
I like vegetarian pizza.
–¿No quieres una pizza vegetariana?
‘You don’t want a vegetarian pizza?’
–¡Sí, por favor, la pizza vegetariana me gusta!
‘Yes, please, I like vegetarian pizza!’
(c)
–Tu padre, ¿cuándo fue capitán de artillería?
‘When was your father an artillery captain?’
–Pues fue capitán de artillería durante la guerra.
‘Well, he was an artillery captain during the war.’
–¿Qué hizo tu padre durante la guerra?
‘What did your father do during the war?’
–Durante la guerra fue capitán de artillería.
‘During the war he was an artillery captain.’
(d)
–¿Dónde está el libro?
‘Where’s the book?’
–El libro lo tengo en casa.
‘I’ve got the book at home.’
–¿Qué has dejado en casa?
‘What have you left at home?’
–En casa he dejado el libro.
‘I’ve left the book at home.’
Another general difference between Spanish and English is that adverbs usually stand immediately next to the verb in Spanish:
Habla bien español.
He/she speaks Spanish well.
Salió rápidamente de la habitación.
He/she went out of the room quickly.
Saludó con entusiasmo a los aficionados.
He/she greeted the fans enthusiastically.
For the order of adjectives and nouns, click here: adjectives; nouns.
Questions may be indicated simply by intonation, preserving the word order of a simple statement, or the verb may be placed first:
¿Louise habla español?
Does Louise speak Spanish?
¿Ha llegado el tren?
Has the train arrived?
A topic may also be placed first, outside the scope of the question, in which case the
inverted question mark appears in writing after the topicalized element:
Y al señor Pérez ¿cómo lo reconocieron?
And how did they recognize Señor Pérez?