word order from English to Spanish

Question

Is there a simple rule I should follow when speaking to someone in Spanish. it apears the sentence structure/word order in English is diffrent in Spanish. My friends have to hear my entire comment and change the order in thier head to fully understand what I am trying to say. How can I converse with them so they don't have to do this?

Thanks Joerancho67

Hello Joe. Welcome to the forum. I would start the lessons here on SpanishDict. - rac1, Oct 19, 2012

Good suggestion! - rheit, Oct 19, 2012

Answer 1

I don't think there is a way to learn word order other than to hear it over and over, practice it over and over. There are specific rules you can memorize such as most adjectives follow the noun they modify (the happy child - la niña contenta), and you can't use a noun to modify a noun, so they have to be flipped around (Fred's car - el coche de Fred). Mostly, though, it's a lot of listening, reading, and practice until your brain starts to recognize the word order. I'm still working on it!

Questions are more a matter of intonation. - annierats, Oct 19, 2012

Answer 2

Sentence structure in Spanish: Subject + verb + complement

Ex.

Juan juega con el perro

Subject: Juan

Verb: juega

Complement: con el perro (prepositional phrase - with the dog)

I hope this helps!

However, in a question, subject follows the verb. Correct? - rheit, Oct 19, 2012

Not necessarily. You can say: ¿Tú hablas español? - francobollo, Oct 19, 2012

¿ Juan juega con el perro? - annierats, Oct 19, 2012

Really? I feel a new post coming on, after I do some reading and research, of course. :) - rheit, Oct 19, 2012