Italian word order: how to build basic sentences

Every sentence is built from a few parts. The subject is who or what does the action. The verb is the action or state. The object is the person or thing that the action affects. In «Giulia compra il pane», «Giulia» is the subject, «compra» (buys) is the verb and «il pane» (the bread) is the object.

The good news for English speakers is that the basic order is the same: subject, verb, object. The differences are in the details: Italian often leaves the subject out, most adjectives come after the noun, and small words such as «non» and «mi» go before the verb. Once you know these few rules, you can build clear sentences from the words you already have.

Subject, verb, object: the basic order

A neutral Italian sentence follows the order subject + verb + object: «Mio fratello studia medicina», «Il cameriere porta il conto». Because the verb ending shows the person, the subject is often left out when it would be a pronoun: «Studio medicina» already means “I study medicine”.

After the object come the complements: words that complete the sentence with extra information about place, time, company or manner: «Prendo un caffè al bar con Marta». Time expressions are flexible and often go at the very beginning or the very end: «Domani vado a Pisa» or «Vado a Pisa domani».

Yes/no questions usually keep the same order and change only the intonation: «Marco parla inglese?». After a question word, the subject often moves after the verb: «Dove abita Marco?», «A che ora arriva l’autobus?».

Noun phrases: article, noun and adjective

A noun phrase is a group of words built around a noun: «la casa», «una casa grande», «la mia casa nuova». The article comes first. Possessives, demonstratives, numbers and quantity words also go before the noun: «la mia famiglia», «questo libro», «due caffè», «molti amici». Every word in the group agrees with the noun in gender and number: «le mie amiche italiane».

Most adjectives go after the noun, especially colours, nationalities, shapes and types: «una macchina rossa», «un ragazzo spagnolo», «un tavolo rotondo», «il vino bianco». A small group of short, common adjectives often go before it: «bello», «buono», «brutto», «bravo», «grande», «piccolo», «nuovo», «vecchio»: «un bel film», «una buona idea», «una piccola casa». After the noun they are also correct and sound more descriptive: «una casa piccola». The finer differences of adjective position are a B2 topic.

When an adjective has «molto» (very) in front of it, the pair goes after the noun: «una città molto bella», never «una molto bella città».

Where the small words go: non, mi, ti, sempre

Some short words stick to the verb. «Non» goes directly before the verb: «Oggi non lavoro». Unstressed pronouns such as «mi», «ti», «ci», «si» and «lo» also go before the conjugated verb: «Mi chiamo Elena», «Ti chiamo stasera», «Ci vediamo domani». When both are present, non comes first: «Non mi piace il tè».

Short adverbs of frequency and manner, such as «sempre» (always), «spesso» (often), «già» (already) and «bene» (well), usually go right after the verb, not between the subject and the verb as in English: «Marco arriva sempre in ritardo» “Marco always arrives late”, «Parli bene l’italiano». With «non… mai», non goes before the verb and mai after it: «Non bevo mai il caffè la sera».

• Non mi piace aspettare. · I don’t like waiting.
• Vado spesso al mare con i miei amici. · I often go to the seaside with my friends.

Joining ideas: e, ma, o, perché

To build longer sentences, join two short ones with a conjunction, a linking word. «E» means “and”: «Lavoro a Milano e abito a Monza». Before a word that starts with e, it is often written «ed»: «Elena ed Enrico». «Ma» means “but” and usually has a comma before it: «La casa è piccola, ma è molto comoda». «O» means “or”: «Prendi un tè o un caffè?»; «oppure» means the same and is common in speech.

«Perché» means “because” and introduces a reason: «Studio italiano perché mia moglie è di Napoli». At the start of a question, the same word means “why”: «Perché studi italiano?». So the question and the answer often both begin with perché: «Perché sei stanco? Perché lavoro troppo.» Note the accent on the final e.

To put actions in order, «prima» (first) and «poi» (then) are very useful: «Prima faccio la spesa, poi cucino».

• Mi piace il mare, ma preferisco la montagna. · I like the seaside, but I prefer the mountains.
• Stasera resto a casa perché sono stanca. · I’m staying at home tonight because I’m tired.