Chinese word order: SVO and exceptions
Basic Mandarin sentence structure: subject, verb, object, time, and place.
Overview
Good news: simple Chinese follows SVO like English. Complexity shows up with time, place, complements, and emphasis.
Basic SVO sentence
我喝咖啡 (wǒ hē kāfēi) = I drink coffee. Subject + verb + object, no verb conjugation.
Time usually goes before the verb or at the start: 昨天我喝咖啡 (zuótiān wǒ hē kāfēi).
Place and questions
我在北京工作 (wǒ zài Běijīng gōngzuò): location with 在 goes before the verb.
Where? 你在哪儿工作？ (nǐ zài nǎr gōngzuò?) — the question keeps the same order.
Put it into practice
Practice structures with grammar exercises and phrases in Chinese Trainer.