Level: A1-B1
Building English Sentences
Knowing the words is only half the job — you also have to put them in the right order. English word order is fixed: subject + verb + object, adjectives before nouns, place before time, and a special flipped order for questions. This guide covers the patterns that turn words into sentences, with click-to-hear examples and unscramble quizzes for every rule.
What makes a sentence?
Every complete English sentence needs just two things: a subject (who or what the sentence is about) and a verb (what the subject does or is). In writing, it starts with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point.
- The baby sleeps. (subject: the baby · verb: sleeps — a complete sentence)
- Birds fly. (two words are enough)
Words alone are not a sentence until they follow the pattern. The same three words can be a real sentence or nonsense, depending only on order:
Coffee likes she.
She likes coffee.
Basic word order: subject + verb + object
English is an SVO language: the subject comes first, the verb second, and the object (if there is one) third. Many languages let you move these parts around — English does not. The position of a word tells the listener what job it does.
- The dog chased the ball. (subject → verb → object)
- My mother makes bread.
- I lost my keys.
Adjectives come before the noun
Inside the sentence, a describing word sits in front of its noun — never after it.
She has a car red.
She has a red car.
Stacking several adjectives? They follow a fixed sequence too — see the royal order of adjectives.
Place and time go at the end
Extra information about where and when follows the verb and its object. When a sentence has both, the rule is place before time.
- She works at a bank. (place at the end)
- We have class on Monday. (time at the end)
- I went to the gym yesterday. (both: place, then time)
I went yesterday to the gym.
I went to the gym yesterday.
Never split a verb from its object with place or time:
We ate in the park lunch.
We ate lunch in the park.
For emphasis, time can move to the very front with a comma — Yesterday, I went to the gym. — but the neutral position is the end. Which small word to use (in, on, or at) is its own lesson: see the preposition quizzes below.
Questions: the order flips
To ask a question, English moves a helping verb in front of the subject. Which helper depends on the sentence:
- BE moves by itself. Are you ready? (statement: You are ready.)
- Modal verbs move by themselves. Can you swim?
- All other verbs need do / does / did — and the main verb returns to its base form. Does he play soccer? (NOT: Does he plays…?)
- Question words go first, then the helper, then the subject. Where do you live?
The exception: who / what as the subject
When who or what is the subject of the question, nothing flips and there is no do:
Who did call you?
Who called you?
Indirect questions: the order flips back
After a polite opener like Could you tell me… or Do you know…, the question returns to statement order — no do, no flip:
Could you tell me where is the station?
Could you tell me where the station is?
Negatives: the three ways to say "no"
Negatives use the same helpers as questions — but instead of moving, the helper takes not:
- BE + not: She is not tired.
- DO / DOES / DID + not + base verb: He does not eat meat.
- Modal + not: You cannot park here. (cannot is one word)
She not like coffee.
She does not like coffee.
In conversation the full forms usually contract: is not → isn't, do not → don't, cannot → can't. One not is enough — English avoids double negatives (I don't know nothing ✗).
Beyond the simple sentence
Once the basic patterns feel natural, the next step is combining and checking sentences. These lessons live in other guides on the site:
- Sentence types — joining simple sentences into compound and complex ones with conjunctions.
- Comma splices & run-ons — the errors that appear when sentences are joined the wrong way.
- Subject–verb agreement — making the verb match its subject (she works, they work).
- The imperative — the one sentence type with no visible subject: Sit down.
- Adverb position — where words like always, quickly, and very go.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the basic word order in English?
- Subject + verb + object (SVO): She (subject) likes (verb) coffee (object). Unlike many languages, English word order is fixed — changing it changes the meaning or breaks the sentence.
- Where do place and time go in an English sentence?
- At the end, after the verb and its object — and when a sentence has both, place comes before time: I went to the gym yesterday.
- Why do English questions use do?
- Most verbs cannot move in front of the subject by themselves, so English adds the helping verb do / does / did to make the question: Do you like coffee? Only be and modal verbs like can move by themselves: Are you ready? Can you swim?