The Sentence and
its Elements

General order of the elements in a sentence

Since the purpose of Multilingua is to offer every speaker the possibility to express themselves in their source language, whatever it may be, we will be explaining the different positions of elements in different languages.

As explained here, the order of elements in a sentence varies between subjective and objective languages:

(A: Actor; V: Verb; O: Object; R: Recipient)

There are 9 grammatical/morphosyntactic categories:

  • Determiner
  • Noun
  • Adjective
  • Pronoun
  • Verb
  • Adverb
  • Adposition
  • Conjunction
  • Interjection

Elements order in objective languages

The order aims to assign the case or function of sentence elements, which determines the roles of the actor, object, and recipient. However, marks can also be used, either because they are used in certain languages or to clarify the meaning. Multilinguale strives to avoid redundancy while facilitating comprehension. In this case, marks help to confirm any uncertainties.

Juan gives a book to Pedro in Paris

Juan gives Pedro a book in Paris

In these sentences, the order clarifies the roles of the actor, object, and recipient without the need for marks.

However, it is not the same in the following sentence:

Pedro Juan gives book in Paris

Here, it is necessary to introduce the dative mark since the recipient, who receives the book, is not clear. Therefore, the mark is helpful for comprehension:

To Pedro Juan gives book in Paris

AVOR Languages

  • Europe: English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Polish, Czech, Greek, etc.
  • America: Guarana, Maya, etc.

AROV Languages

  • Basque, Japanese.

Elements order in objective languages

AVOR (Jon done livre Pedro / Jone done livre a Pedro)

  • Preposition
  • Noun + complement
  • Noun + adjective
  • Main sentence + subordinate sentence
  • Verb and adverb
  • Nominative and accusative

Elements order in subjective languages

AROV (Jon Pedro libre done)

  • Postposition
  • Complement + noun
  • Adjective + noun
  • Subordinate sentence + Main sentence
  • Adverb and verb
  • Ergative and absolutive

Marks of the elements of the sentence

The marks of the elements of a sentence are given by the position imposed by the order of the elements.

  • The referent elements, nominative and absolutive, have no marks and can be distinguished by the lack of mark or by the position.
  • If they are not identified by the context or by the position, non referent elements may need a mark. In this way, the following priorities are set up: the mark above the context, and the context above the position.
  • Dative always has marks: ad (a)
  • Accusative and the ergative are also distinguished by the position (marks are accepted but not recommended).
  • Accusative: an (-n)
  • Ergative: ak (-k)
  • The object normally goes between the verb and the recipient (VOR#ROV). If it is not so, and the context do not clear it, both object and recipient must be marked.
  • If there is no dative, accusative can carry the mark of dative (a), since both are objects, accusative direct object and the dative indirect object. Therefore, the mark is not a specific mark of dative, but a mark of object in general.
 Examples
VO
Simon done un livre  a Ana
(nom)              (acu)     (dat)
VO
A  Ana done un livre   Emilio 
(dat)                (acu)     (nom)
OV
Simon    a  Ana  un livre done
(erg)        (dat)     (abs)
OV
A  Ana  un livre done Simon
(dat)        (abs)             (erg)
Examples
Event – Ente (VO)
Nominative (actor referent)
no marked
 
Acusative (objet no referent)
an (-n)
Opcional
Dative
ad (a)
Necesarie
Ente – Event (OV)
Ergative (actor no referent)
ak (-k)
Opcional
Absolutive (objet referent)no
marked
Dative
ad (a)
Necesarie

Another way to assign cases is through prepositions and postpositions. We explain it in the following examples:

  • Expressions in languages that use preposition:

Ex.: “cup of coffee” (english) → Tase de cafe

  • Expressions in languages that use postposition:

Ex: “coffee cup” (english) → Cafe tase  (cafe-de tase)

It is advisable to place the case marker on the determining element (determiner) rather than the determined one.

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The content of this website is a summary and simplification based on the work and documentation of Xabier Interideal and can be incomplete or partially incorrect.