Basic Sentence Structure

Understanding how to put words together in the right order is fundamental to speaking Spanish. While Spanish sentence structure is similar to English in many ways, there are some important differences — particularly with adjective placement, negation, and flexibility of word order.

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The Default: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)

Like English, the most common sentence structure in Spanish is Subject + Verb + Object (SVO).

Subject	Verb	Object	Translation
María	come	una manzana.	María eats an apple.
Yo	estudio	español.	I study Spanish.
El gato	bebe	leche.	The cat drinks milk.
Nosotros	leemos	el periódico.	We read the newspaper.
Ellos	hablan	inglés.	They speak English.

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Flexible Word Order

One major difference between Spanish and English is that Spanish has more flexible word order. Because verb conjugations tell you who the subject is, the subject can move around — or be dropped entirely.

Subject After the Verb

In Spanish, the subject often appears after the verb, especially in these cases:

1. In Questions

Spanish	English
¿Habla María español?	Does María speak Spanish?
¿Tiene usted reserva?	Do you have a reservation?
¿Dónde vive tu hermano?	Where does your brother live?

2. With Verbs Like Gustar

Spanish	Literal	English
Me gusta el café.	To me is pleasing the coffee.	I like coffee.
Nos encantan las películas.	To us are enchanting the films.	We love films.

3. In Exclamations

Spanish	English
¡Qué bonita es tu casa!	How beautiful your house is!
¡Cómo corre ese niño!	How that child runs!

4. To Add Emphasis or New Information

Spanish	English
Llegó el tren.	The train arrived.
Llamó tu madre.	Your mother called.

Tip: Placing the subject after the verb often adds emphasis or introduces new information — similar to saying "There arrived the train" in old-fashioned English.

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Dropping the Subject

As covered in the Subject Pronouns lesson, Spanish frequently omits the subject pronoun because the verb ending makes it clear.

With Subject	Without Subject	English
Yo tengo un perro.	Tengo un perro.	I have a dog.
Ella vive en Madrid.	Vive en Madrid.	She lives in Madrid.
Nosotros comemos a las dos.	Comemos a las dos.	We eat at two.

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Adjective Placement

This is one of the biggest differences between English and Spanish. In English, adjectives come before the noun. In Spanish, most adjectives come after the noun.

The General Rule: Adjectives After the Noun

Spanish	English
un coche rojo	a red car
una casa grande	a big house
un libro interesante	an interesting book
una mujer inteligente	an intelligent woman
un día largo	a long day
una comida deliciosa	a delicious meal

Adjectives That Go BEFORE the Noun

Certain adjectives typically go before the noun. These tend to be common, short, and subjective.

Adjective	Position	Example	Meaning
bueno/a	Before	un buen libro	a good book
malo/a	Before	una mala idea	a bad idea
grande	Before	un gran hombre	a great man
pequeño/a	Either	un pequeño problema	a small problem
nuevo/a	Before	un nuevo coche	a new car
viejo/a	Before	un viejo amigo	an old friend (long-time)
primero/a	Before	el primer día	the first day
último/a	Before	la última vez	the last time
otro/a	Before	otra cosa	another thing
mucho/a	Before	mucha gente	many people
poco/a	Before	poca agua	little water

Note: bueno shortens to buen before a masculine singular noun. Malo shortens to mal. Grande shortens to gran before any singular noun. Primero shortens to primer before a masculine singular noun.

Adjectives That Change Meaning by Position

Some adjectives have different meanings depending on whether they appear before or after the noun.