Порядок слів у реченні

The basic French sentence follows the same order as English: subject, verb, object. Je mange une pomme lines up word for word with "I eat an apple". The differences show up around the verb, where French puts small words that English places elsewhere.

The cluster around the verb

Negation and object pronouns wrap around the conjugated verb in a fixed order: subject + ne + object pronoun + verb + pas + the rest. Je ne le vois pas. - I don't see him. English puts "him" after the verb; French puts le before it.

Adverbs after the verb

Short adverbs such as bien, mal, souvent, toujours, déjà come right after the conjugated verb, not before it as in English: Je parle bien français. - I speak French well. Il mange souvent des crêpes. - He often eats crêpes. *Je bien parle and *Il souvent mange are word-for-word English and wrong in French.

Adjectives after the noun

Most adjectives follow the noun: une voiture rouge - a red car, un vin blanc. A short list (petit, grand, bon, beau...) goes before it, as in English.

Time and place

Place usually comes before time at the end of a sentence: Je mange au restaurant ce soir. For emphasis, put the time first and follow it with a comma: Ce soir, je mange au restaurant. Unlike German, French does not move the verb after a fronted phrase: the subject still comes before the verb.