object–subject–verb word order

OSV is rarely used in unmarked sentences, which use a normal word order without emphasis. Most languages that use OSV as their default word order come from the Amazon basin, such as Xavante, Jamamadi, Apurinã, Warao, Kayabí and Nadëb.{{cite book | last1 = O'Grady | first1 = William | author-link1 = | last2 = Dobrovolsky | first2 = Michael | author-link2 = | last3 = Aronoff | first3 = Mark | author-link3 = | date = 1997 | title = Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction | url = | location = New York | publisher = St. Martin's Press | page = | isbn = 0-582-24691-1 }} Mizo language also uses OSV in unmarked sentences. Here is an example from Apurinã:

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|anana nota apa

|pineapple I fetch

|I fetch a pineapple}}

British Sign Language (BSL) normally uses topic–comment structure, but its default word order when topic–comment structure is not used is OSV.

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Various languages allow OSV word order but only in marked sentences, which emphasise part or all of the sentence.

Passive constructions in Chinese follow an OSV (OAV) pattern through the use of the particle 被:

{{fs interlinear|lang=zh|indent=3

|这个 苹果 被 我 吃 掉 了

|Zhège píngguǒ bèi wǒ chī diào le

|this apple by me eat {} PFV

|This apple was eaten by me.}}

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In English, object-subject-verb order is atypical but can be used for contrastive focus, as in: That car we bought at least five years ago. The other one we only bought last year.{{cite web |title=Word order and focus |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/word-order-and-focus_2 |access-date=11 May 2023}}

Finnish has a remarkably lax word order{{cite web | url=https://www.kielikello.fi/-/sanajarjestys-jasentaa-tekstia | title=Sanajärjestys jäsentää tekstiä - Kielikello }} and so emphasis on the object is often marked simply by putting it first in the sentence.{{cite web | url=https://hyvaa-paivaa.readthedocs.io/en/latest/wordorder/#sentence-structure | title=Word order and basic noun cases — Hyvää Päivää Suomi documentation}} The word by word translation in example (1) would be "you I love!" and expresses a contrast to maybe loving someone else.

{{interlinear|lang=fi|number=(1)

|Sinua minä rakastan!

|2SG.PTV 1SG.NOM 1SG.love.PRS.IND

|"I love you!"

}}

This word order is totally natural and quite often used for emphasis. Example (2) expresses the contrast of refusing to eat something else (like something more healthy).

{{interlinear|lang=fi|number=(2)

|Suklaata se kyllä suostuu syömään

|chocolate.PTV 3.SG INT 3SG.consent.PRS.IND eat.ILL

|"He instead consents to eating chocolate."

}}

In Modern Hebrew, OSV is often used instead of the normal SVO to emphasise the object. אני אוהב אותה would mean "I love her", but "אותה אני אוהב" would mean "It is she whom I love".{{Cite journal|last1=Friedmann|first1=Naama|last2=Shapiro|first2=Lewis|date=April 2003|title=Agrammatic comprehension of simple active sentence with moved constituents: Hebrew OSV and OVS structures|journal=Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research|volume=46|issue=2|pages=288–97|doi=10.1044/1092-4388(2003/023)|pmid=14700372|pmc=3392331}} Possibly an influence of Germanic (via Yiddish), as Jewish English uses a similar construction ("You, I like, kid") much more than many other varieties of English and often with the "it is" left implicit.

In Hungarian, OSV emphasises the subject:

A szócikket én szerkesztettem = The article/I/edited (It was I, not somebody else, who edited the article).

Korean and Japanese have SOV by default, but since they are topic-prominent languages, they often seem to be OSV when the object is topicalized. Here is an example in Korean:

{{fs interlinear|indent=2

|top=그 사과는 제가 먹었어요.

| 그 사과–는 제–가 먹–었–어–요

| geu sagwa-neun je-ga meog-eoss-eo-yo

| that apple-{{gcl|TOP|topic}} I.{{gcl|POL|polite}}-{{gcl|NOM|nominative}} eat-{{gcl|PST|past}}-{{gcl|DEC|declarative mood}}-{{gcl|POL|polite}}

| {} Object Subject Verb|style4= font-variant: small-caps;

| As for the apple, I ate it. (or) The apple, I ate.}}

An almost identical syntax is possible in Japanese:

{{fs interlinear|indent=2

|top=そのりんごは私が食べました。

| その りんご゠は 私゠が 食べ゠まし゠た

| sono ringo-wa watashi-ga tabe-mashi-ta

| that apple-{{gcl|TOP|topic}} I.{{gcl|POL|polite}}-{{gcl|NOM|nominative}} eat-{{gcl|POL|polite|honorific speech in Japanese#Polite language}}-{{gcl|PST|past}}/{{gcl|PERF|perfect}}

| {} Object Subject Verb|style4= font-variant: small-caps;

| As for the apple, I ate it. (or) The apple, I ate.}}

OSV is one of the permissible word orders in Malayalam, the other being SOV. Here is an example of this occurring in Malayalam:

{{fs interlinear|lang=ml|indent=2

|ഈ കുമളിപ്പഴം ഞാൻ തിന്നു.

|ī kumaḷipaẓam ṅāṉ ṭinnu

|this apple me ate

|I ate this apple.}}

OSV is possible in Portuguese to emphasize the object.

{{interlinear|indent=2

|top= De maçã eu não gosto

|De maçã eu não gosto

|of apple I NEG like-1SG

|{} Object Subject {} Verb|style3= font-variant: small-caps;

|I do not like apple}}

OSV is used in Turkish to emphasize the subject:

{{interlinear|indent=2

|top=Yemeği ben pişirdim.

|yemeğ-i ben pişir-di-m

|meal-ACC I cook-PST-1SG

|It was I, not somebody else, who cooked the meal.}}

• Yoda, a popular Star Wars character who speaks in the object–subject–verb word order
• Yoda conditions - a style of writing conditionals in computer programming languages

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Category:Word order