Moving elements for emphasis while keeping the verb last
I can move a phrase for emphasis without breaking the sentence
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
This book I have read.
Tomorrow I won't come.
Tea I drink, not coffee.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Hindi is an SOV language. Spelled out, neutral order is subject, time, place, object, verb. But Hindi moves things freely for emphasis, with one hard rule: the verb stays at the end.
The opening slot is what the sentence is about; the slot just before the verb carries the new information. This is why an answer to a question puts the answer immediately before the verb.
Verb-first order occurs in songs and dramatic speech. It is marked, not neutral, and best recognised rather than imitated.
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesMoving the verb out of final position because Russian allows it.
Verb moved out of final position
Everything may move; the verb may not.
New information not placed before the verb
The slot immediately before the verb carries the answer.
This book I have read.
Object fronted as the topic; the verb still closes.
Tomorrow I won't come.
Time fronted; the emphasis falls on tomorrow.
Tea I drink, not coffee.
Contrastive fronting, identical in both languages.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
Yamuna Kachru's reference grammar; the descriptive account relied on for aspect, valency and clause structure.
R. S. McGregor's outline, the standard concise academic description of Hindi morphology.