Triparic Word Order

Basic Sentence Structure

The structure of a simple declarative sentence (a statement rather than a question) is:

(SUBJECT) (FINITE VERB) [(NON-FINITE VERBS)] [(OBJECT AND MODIFIERS)]

The finite verb is the verb component which takes the personal ending. The non-finite verbs are other verbs (participles and infinitives) which convey meaning.

The object is the person or thing on which the verb acts. Modifiers are things like adverbs or prepositional phrases saying when, where, how, why, or for whom the action happened.

A particular sentence may not have any non-finite verbs, or any objects or modifiers; it could be as simple as Schann ðenket ("Shawn thinks").

Compound Verbs and Word Order

In addition to the tense auxiliaries, there are specialized verbs known as modal verbs which specify the modality of the main verb: do you want to do the thing? Must you do the thing? Can you?

Additionally, there are verbs which can stand alone, or can be linked with other main verbs to give a more complex meaning. In English, these are called catenative verbs. An example would be I tried to help them. Another would be I plan to go to the concert.

And you could combine modals, the perfect tenses, the passive voice, and catenative verbs to create some very complicated ideas: They had been allowed to try to help him. They had not been able to plan to leave before Wednesday.

A challenge is to determine the correct order in which to state the non-finite verbs in a sentence. The examples below should help explain.

Examples

Perfect tense modal plus chain of infinitives

They had been required to try to help him.

The way to think through the order is to start with the finite verb and ask questions, one by one:

"They had." Had what?
"Had been allowed." Had been allowed what?
"Had been allowed to try." Had been allowed to try what?
"Had been allowed to try to help."

1. Our components are eng (they), erm (him), and the verbs around them. And we know that eng is the subject, so we know all of the sentence except the second slot (the finite verb) and the end (all the non-finite verbs).
   • Eng ... erm ...
2. We know that the finite verb is going to be 3rd person plural, since the subject of the sentence is they.
3. Since the sentence is going to be past perfect, the finite verb is, in particular, the 3rd person plural past of haben: hadant.
   • Eng hadant erm ...
4. Now we ask: "They had what?" The immediate answer is "been required." That is the past participle of musen.
   • Eng hadant erm gemuset ...
5. "They had been required what?" "To try."
   • Eng hadant erm gemuset proben ...
6. "To try what?" "To help."
   • Eng hadant erm gemuset proben helfen.

Passive perfect tense with a modal

The man shall have been allowed to be seen by the king.

1. Our components are der vir (the man), bä der könig (by the king), and the verbs around them. And we know that der vir is the subject, so once again, we know all of the sentence except the second slot and the end.
   • Der vir ... bä der könig ...
2. We know that the finite verb is going to be 3rd person singular, since the subject of the sentence is the man.
3. Since the sentence is going to be future perfect, the finite verb is, in particular, the 3rd person singular future of haben: habret.
   • Der vir habret bä der könig ...
4. Now we ask: "The man shall have what?" The immediate answer is "been allowed." That is the past participle of durfen.
   • Der vir habret bä der könig gedurfet ...
5. "Shall have been allowed what?" The answer is "To be seen". That's the passive voice. So we know the next piece is sän ("to be"), and the final piece must be the passive participle of viden, which is bevidet ("seen").
   • Der vir habret bä der könig gedurfet sän bevidet.