Basic word order: subject + verb + object

A basic Chinese sentence has the same core order as English: subject (who), then verb (the action), then object (what). The big difference is that Chinese words never change shape: verbs are not conjugated and nouns have no plural or gender. Meaning comes from WORD ORDER, so keeping it right matters more than anything. Time and place words do not go at the end as in English; they come before the verb (see other points).