Editing French grammar (section)

== Word order ==
The components of a declarative clause are typically arranged in the following order (though not all components are always present):<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pretot |first1=Angel |title=How to make French sentences easily |url=https://www.frenchfluency.net/blog/how-to-make-french-sentences-easily |website=French Fluency |date=3 November 2020 |access-date=26 July 2023}}</ref>
* Adverbial(s)
* Subject
* {{lang|fr|ne}} (usually a marker for negation, though it has some other uses)
* First- and second-person object pronoun ({{lang|fr|me, te, nous, vous}}) or the third-person reflexive pronoun ({{lang|fr|se}})
* Third-person direct-object pronoun ({{lang|fr|le, la, les}})
* Third-person indirect-object pronoun ({{lang|fr|lui}} or {{lang|fr|leur}})
* The pronoun {{lang|fr|y}}
* The pronoun {{lang|fr|en}}
* Finite verb (may be an auxiliary)
* Adverbial(s)
* (second marker for negation) The pronouns {{lang|fr|pas, rien, personne, aucun.e, peu, que}} (if not subject)
* Main verb (if the finite verb is an auxiliary)
* Adverbial(s)
* Direct object
* Indirect object
* Adverbial(s)

:What is called in English (and above) an ''indirect object'' is in many cases called {{lang|fr|complément circonstanciel d'attribution}} according to French grammar conventions (e.g., in {{lang|fr|donner quelque chose à quelqu'un}} 'to give sth. to s.o.' or 'to give s.o. sth.'). What the French call {{lang|fr|complément d'objet indirect}} is a complement introduced by an essentially void {{lang|fr|à}} or {{lang|fr|de}} (at least in the case of a noun) required by some particular, otherwise intransitive, verbs: e.g. {{lang|fr|Les cambrioleurs ont profité de mon absence}} 'the robbers took advantage of my absence' — but the essentially synonymous {{lang|fr|les cambrioleurs ont mis mon absence à profit}} has a direct object instead. Unlike in English, in French neither an indirect object nor a circumstantial can become the subject of the passive voice: {{lang|fr|He was given a book}} has no direct equivalent in French.
The most common word order in French is subject-verb-object (SVO).

* {{lang|fr|J’adore le chocolat}} (I love chocolate).

French also allows for verb-object-subject (VOS) though the usage is relatively rare and various constraints apply. The most common instance of this word order is in more formal texts or in response to questions with a focus on the subject, as opposed to more broad questions such as, {{lang|fr|Qu’est-ce qui s’est passé?}} (what happened?). Below are examples of each circumstance.

* Formal or administrative text – {{lang|fr|Recevront un bulletin de vote les étudiants et le personnel académique}} (students as well as academic staff will receive a ballot paper).
* Response to questions with a focus on the subject – {{lang|fr|Qui a mangé les gâteaux ?}} (who ate the cakes?)
** {{lang|fr|Ont mangé les gâteaux Marie, Pierre et Stéphanie}} (Marie, Pierre and Stephanie are those who ate the cakes).

Finally, in a comparatively limited number of instances French allows for object-subject-verb (OSV) word order, such as when adding emphasis

* {{lang|fr|Le chocolat j’adore}} (chocolate I LOVE).

In regard to word order, French is more restrictive than other [[Romance languages]]. For example, [[Spanish grammar|Spanish]] allows for all six possible word orders, compared to French’s three. Additionally, unlike other Romance languages, specifically Spanish and [[Italian grammar|Italian]], French does not have free [[Inversion (linguistics)|inversion]], which is often explained by French not being a [[pro-drop language]] (while Spanish and Italian are).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lahousse & Lamiroy|first=Karen & Beatrice|title=Word Order in French, Spanish and Italian: A Grammaticalization Account.|url=https://doi.org/10.1515/flin.2012.014.|journal=Folia Linguistica: Acta Societatis Linguisticae Europaeae|year=2012|volume=46|issue=2|pages=387–415|doi=10.1515/flin.2012.014|s2cid=146854174|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref>

=== Negation ===
As mentioned above, French expresses negation in two parts, the first with the particle ne attached to the verb and one or more negative words, which modify either the verb or one of its arguments. The participle ne comes before the verb in the sentence that is marked for tense and before any unstressed object pronouns that come before the verb. The location of the second part of the negation varies, however.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Hawkins & Towell|first=Roger & Richard|title=French Grammar and Usage|publisher=Taylor & Francis Group|year=2010|url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=615884|language=English}}</ref>

=== History ===
Modern French allows for fewer word orders than [[Latin grammar|Latin]] or [[Old French]], both of which Modern French has evolved from. In both Latin and Old French, all six potential word orders are possible:

* [[Subject-verb-object|Subject-verb-object (SVO)]]
* [[Verb-object-subject|Verb-object-subject (VOS)]]
* [[Object-subject-verb|Object-subject-verb (OSV)]]
* [[Subject-object-verb|Subject-object-verb (SOV)]]
* [[Object-verb-subject|Object-verb-subject (OVS)]]
* [[Verb-subject-object|Verb-subject-object (VSO)]]

While linguistic evolution occurs on a continuum, the major shift towards increased grammaticalization occurred in French most distinctly between the mid 12th century and end of the 15th century. It is believed that the progressive move towards SVO as the dominant French word order occurred during this time, as a result of a "progressive fixation of the subject in preverbal position from the fourteenth century on".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lahousse & Lamiroy|first=Karen & Beatrice|date=2010|title=Word Order in French, Spanish and Italian: A Grammaticalization Account|url=http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/gmu/detail.action?docID=615884.:|journal=Folia Linguistica: Acta Societatis Linguisticae Europaeae.|volume=46|pages=396|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref>