[Germanic] Sentence structures and grammar


When you begin learning German or Dutch, you will quickly notice that they have a different word order in sentences to English. In this way, English is actually closer to the North Germanic languages.

English (West Germanic)
I will go home
Subject, (1) verb, (2) verb, object

Dutch (West Germanic)
Ik zal naar huis gaan
Subject, (1) verb, preposition, object, (2) verb  

German (West Germanic)
Ich werde nach Hause gehen 
Subject, (1) verb, preposition, object, (2) verb

Danish (North Germanic)
Jeg skal () hjem
Subject, (1) verb, (2) verb, object

Norwegian (North Germanic)
Jeg skal () hjem
Subject, (1) verb, (2) verb, object

Swedish (North Germanic)
Jag ska () hem
Subject, (1) verb, (2) verb, object 

Why did this happen to English? I speculate that the sentence order was influenced by Danish and Norwegian carried by waves of Viking invasions, then later by French carried by the Normans.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this article.

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