French Word Order: How to Build a Sentence (It's Mostly Like English)
Start with ordinary affirmative French sentences: subject, verb, object. Learn two useful contrasts with English, plus pronoun-placement exceptions.
Ordinary affirmative French clauses with noun objects often follow Subject-Verb-Object, like English. Two useful starting contrasts: object pronouns usually precede the verb they belong to (je la mange - I eat it), and most adjectives follow the noun (une voiture rouge - a red car), except a small group like grand, petit and beau that come before.
Quick answer
Ordinary affirmative French clauses with noun objects often follow Subject-Verb-Object, like English. Two useful starting contrasts: object pronouns usually precede the verb they belong to (je la mange - I eat it), and most adjectives follow the noun (une voiture rouge - a red car), except a small group like grand, petit and beau that come before.
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The baseline: Subject-Verb-Object
Je mange une pomme (I eat an apple) - the exact same order as English. This is a useful starting pattern, not a complete account of French syntax. Questions, commands and other constructions can use different orders.
Contrast 1: object pronoun placement
Je LA mange (I eat IT) - the pronoun jumps in front, reversed from English word order. See je vs moi for the pronoun family this belongs to.
In a compound tense, the pronoun precedes the auxiliary: je l’ai mangée (I ate it, referring to the apple). If it belongs to an infinitive, place it before that infinitive: je vais la manger (I am going to eat it).
Affirmative commands put pronouns after the verb with hyphens: mange-la (eat it), donne-la-moi (give it to me); the object le/la/les comes before moi/toi/lui/nous/vous/leur. Negative commands keep the pronoun before the verb: ne la mange pas (do not eat it).
Contrast 2: adjectives usually follow the noun
Une voiture rouge (a red car) - with an exception group covering beauty, age, goodness and size (grand, petit, beau, jeune, bon) that goes before instead. See French adjectives: agreement and placement for the full exception list.
Negation: the ne…pas sandwich
Je ne mange pas - the verb wrapped between ne and pas. In casual spoken French, the ne is frequently dropped: je mange pas.
Building a full sentence (worked example)
Start simple: je mange (I eat). Add an object: je mange une pomme (I eat an apple). Replace with a pronoun: je la mange (I eat it). Add an adjective: je mange une pomme rouge (I eat a red apple). Negate it: je ne mange pas de pomme (I don’t eat apple).
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Questions about this note
Is French word order like English?
Ordinary affirmative clauses with noun objects often share SVO order. Pronoun and adjective placement are two useful contrasts, not all the differences.
Where do object pronouns go in French?
Usually before the verb they belong to: je te vois (I see you); before the auxiliary in je l'ai vu (I saw him); before the infinitive in je vais le voir (I am going to see him). Affirmative commands put them after it: regarde-le (look at him).
Do all French adjectives come after the noun?
Most do; a small group (beauty, age, goodness, size) comes before instead.
How does French negation work?
Sandwiching the verb: ne + verb + pas.
Can I drop ne in speech?
Yes - casual spoken French often drops it: je sais pas instead of je ne sais pas.