Tricky Russian Word Order

Yes, it's flexible, but NOT random

Russian word order, how do you structure a Russian sentence? Many students are taken off guard and they just don’t expect that the subject could be at the end of the sentence. Or in the middle of a sentence. And sometimes it could be a stumbling block for your listening, for your understanding and expressing yourself correctly.

So let me help you here. We’re going to figure out how to structure the Russian sentence. What is the word order in Russian? It is very flexible, but it’s not random. So let’s dive into this topic and I’m going to show you and explain it. Let’s look at a couple of examples of this flexible word order. You probably learned this phrase in your beginner’s study

Как вас зовут? – Меня зовут Аня.

So you probably learned these phrases as they are with this word order. How about this one?

Я его знаю.

You probably understand this word order, but if you are an English speaker then you are more inclined to say, Я знаю его since in your native language this is exactly the word order that you use – the subject, the verb and then the direct object. So for you, this would be uncomfortable to use the direct object pronoun before the verb, right?

How about this one?

А дела в школе у него как?

– my question word как is at the end! Just recently I had a lesson with my student. He was completely taken off guard by this word order. He couldn’t even understand what the question was about, especially with intonation, because intonation and word order in Russian work hand in hand. So let’s look at simple examples, how it all works. Look at these sentences:

Завтра я работаю в офисе.

Я работаю в офисе завтра.

В офисе работаю завтра я.

All of these sentences, all three sentences here are completely correct, but they will be used in different, completely different contexts. And we need to understand a couple of important criteria that we have to take into consideration when understanding how it all works.

So, first of all, we need to look at the communicative task. What is the purpose of your statement? What is the initial task of your statement or a question.

Now, secondly, we need to understand that we Russians have, I call them two modes, we have a neutral mode and we have an emotive mode. When we start an informal conversation or speak with more of emotions, then we change our word order into so-called emotive mode.

And thirdly, we will have this flexibility as a tool for some stylistic genre of literature. Authors will use it as a tool to be more expressive.

Communicative task is your motive. Why are you making this statement? What urged you? What prompted you to say this statement? So this sentence, for example,

Завтра я работаю в офисе, would probably be an answer to this question -Где ты завтра работаешь? So imagine I’m asking you this question. I already know that you work tomorrow. I wonder where you work. Where you work will be new information for me. So you give me your answer at the end of the sentence and the end of the sentence we will call the rheem or the new information. This is the information you wanted and you intended to give me to answer my question.

Где ты завтра работаешь? – Завтра я работаю в офисе.

All right, let’s look at the second statement –

Я работаю в офисе завтра.

Here, a larger context would probably be a question – Когда ты работаешь в офисе? I know that you work in an office, but I wonder when are you working in the office? So, again, my answer will be at the end of my sentence, again, the Rheem, the intention of my statement will be at the end Я работаю в офисе завтра. That’s why we have завтра at the end of my statement.

Now look at the third sentence –

В офисе работаю завтра я.

So you can probably guess now what would be the question for this sentence? Of course, Кто завтра работает в офисе?- В офисе работаю завтра я. And я is the rheme or the new information or the intention of your statement. This is the communicative task, my intention of my statement. So the new information in a neutral Russian sentence comes last.

All right, so I already mentioned that it’s a neutral mode – Где ты завтра работаешь? – Завтра я работаю в офисе. We already know it’s called the rheme. The known ( old) information is called the theme.

Now, I told you that we Russians have two modes, we have a neutral mode and we can easily switch to an emotive mode. So in neutral mode, our theme comes first and a rheme comes last. If we decide to switch the rheme and the theme, you will see how this sentence becomes emotive. Look at this in this sentence –

В офисе завтра я работаю!

Our rheme now comes first and the theme comes last. This is a reverse word order, which helps me to be more emotional and more informal.

So what would be the context that I would use these emotive mode? That would probably be the situation when I don’t really want to work in the office. And you ask me, – Где ты завтра работаешь? – О, в офисе завтра я роботаю!

If I just want to find out when you will be home, I will ask -Когда ты будешь дома? – Я буду дома завтра. Now, here we have our Rheem at the end of the sentence. Когда? Here comes my answer at the end of the sentence.- Я буду дома завтра. This is in neutral mode.

Now, imagine a more emotional situation, when I am excited about you coming – Когда ты будешь дома? You will first say whatever is on my mind, It’s already tomorrow! You will say it first. – Завтра я буду дома! Yeah! I’m really glad I’ll be home tomorrow.

Notice, that intonation goes up on the new information, regardless if it’s at the end or the beginning.

Categories: : Grammar Lessons