Problems often arise when translating sentences from Russian into English. Most often this happens due to the difference between these languages, which is clearly manifested in the order of words in a sentence.
Word order in an English sentence
The word order in an English sentence is not exactly the same as in Russian.
In Russian, word order is not fixed, plus you can easy to omit subject or predicate(that is, the one who performs the action or who is in question, and the action itself). Thus, in the sentence “I am a student” there is no verb (predicate) at all, and in the sentence “Sunny” there is neither a verb nor a noun.
In English, on the contrary, there must always be both a subject and a predicate.
How to write a sentence in English
Let’s translate the sentence “I am a teacher” into English word for word: we get “I teacher.” But we know that an English sentence must have a subject and a predicate. “I” is the subject, the one we are talking about, everything is fine here, but the verb (predicate) in this sentence is just missing. Then we get “I am a teacher”, where am is exactly the verb we need. That is, if you translate this sentence literally into Russian, you get "I be a teacher" or "I am a teacher".
“You are a teacher” will be translated as “You are a teacher”, which literally means "You are the teacher". Here the verb is the word are.
Forms of the verb to be
In fact, “am” and “are” are forms of the same verb: “to be” bi (which translates as “to be, to appear”), but the present tense forms of this verb are not at all similar to it.
Conjugation table for the verb to be
Let's look at the table and imagine everything in a two-column system. With “I” to be turns into “am” ([əm] em). With “he/she/it” - in “is” ([ɪz] from), and for “we/you/they” the form “are” ([ɑː] а) is used. Thus,
I am a student. I am a student.
Are you student. You are a student.
He is a student. He is a student.
She is a student. She is a student.
We are students. We are students.
You are students. You are students.
They are students. They are students.
It’s easy to remember these forms, because there are only three of them: with I – am, with he/she/it – is, for everything else – are. And don't forget this not different verbs, these are forms of the same verb to be.
Making a sentence with nouns
With pronouns, forms of the verb to be are remembered for simplicity, but there may be other words in their place. For example, "Mike is a student" Let's translate it as “Mike is a student”, because Mike is he (he), and with he we use the is form. Using the same logic we translate "This boy is a student" like "This boy is a student". Another example: “Children at home” will be translated as “Children are at home”, because children are they, and with them we use the form are. "Mike and Monica are students" let's translate it as "Mike and Monika are students", because Mike and Monica together are also “they”.
Knowing this, you will be able to easily compose simple sentences in English. The main thing to remember is that if there is no verb in Russian, it should still be in English, and most likely it will be the verb to be.
Let's make a sentence from words
We have come up with interactive exercises for making sentences from words try
Exercise to consolidate the material (interrogative sentences)
You need to make sentences from English words. After which you will find out its translation. Words can be dragged with the mouse or finger (on smartphones)
New York is a great city
New York is a great city!
The students in my class are really friendly
The students in my class are really friendly.
I am with my friend Pedro in this photo
In this photo I am with my friend Pedro.
He is a teacher at a language school
Is it possible to build such an understandable system that would allow you to easily construct sentences in English and quickly understand all tense forms? Let's get a look.
First you need to figure out what generally accepted standards exist, and how you can avoid getting lost in the apparent complexity while learning English.
If you look in more detail at the structure of sentences in English, it becomes obvious that in order to quickly learn to express yourself concisely and clearly, you just need to train yourself to recognize the subject (who does?) and the predicate (what does he do?) in an English sentence.
In most cases, the subject comes before the predicate in sentences. The only exceptions are interrogative sentences. But in any case, you need to start simple. This way, you can easily learn how to write sentences in English.
Simplicity is the key to success
Let's start with the simplest. This will be the base from which you will need to build in the future. Understanding it will greatly simplify the work of automating the construction of sentences in our heads on the fly.
It is worth knowing that English sentences, unlike Russian ones, are characterized by simplicity, conciseness and brevity. Perhaps this is due to the English mentality, but that’s not the point now.
Long and very complex sentences can still be found in English. They are found in legal texts or in fiction, i.e. where appropriate. However, in live communication, long sentences are extremely rare. But to start, you need to start from the simple.
Let's find out what a simple sentence is in English. Any sentence is constructed in order to describe a real life situation as clearly as possible.
In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to use words to describe the current situation and connect them so that the meaning is conveyed as succinctly as possible. If you manage to convey the meaning correctly, then in the head of the person to whom the information is transmitted you will get an image of the same picture.
In Russian, words are connected using endings. However, in English the situation is completely different; there is no change in multiple endings.
On the one hand, this simplifies the process of memorizing and studying, and on the other, it requires maximum clarity in sentence construction and the correct use of prepositions.
Golden Rule
So, let's define the first and most important rule - direct word order! First it says who is doing it, then what it is doing. Any variations are available in Russian, for example:
- The boy catches fish.
- A boy catches fish.
- A boy catches a fish.
- A boy is fishing.
In English there is always only one word order - “A boy is catching some fish”.
Remember this is the golden rule that you should start with when learning English. Everything is tied to verbs (simple predicates). They will, of course, be in some form of one of the English tenses (from here you can immediately understand how to use the tenses), three moods and two voices. For beginners, the main thing is to understand the basics:
In English, sentence structure always follows a certain structure:
- Subject (who/what?),
- verb (what does it do?),
- object (who/what? addition),
- place (where?),
- time (when?).
For example: “I like to walk with my dog in the park in the evening.”
- like to walk;
- with my dog;
- in the park;
- in the evening.
Time
Many people who begin to learn a language are dizzy from the endless variety of temporary forms. If we take them all into account, we get 16. This is explained by the fact that the tense system is clearly different from the one used in the Russian language. Of course, there are general points, but the main trump card of the English times system is strict order, consistency, and obedience to the laws of grammar and logic.
But times are not as scary as they are made out to be. If you master at least the six most commonly used ones, you will be able to feel confident in almost any communication situation - these are Present Simple, Past Simple, Future Simple, Present Continuous, Past Continuous, and Present Perfect.
Example:
- I go to work every day. - Present Simple (what happens regularly).
- I went to work yesterday. — Past Simple (statement of a fact in the past).
- I will go to work tomorrow. - Future Simple (statement of a fact in the future).
- I am going to work now. - Present Continuous (what is happening now).
- I was going to work when you called me. - Past Continuous (what happened at a certain point in time in the past).
- I have already gone to work. - Present Perfect (it is not known when the action took place, but there is its result in the present).
What is most important is the need to remember that each group of tenses has similar characteristics and norms of formation of the semantic verb, as well as principles of use, and this is the key to quickly mastering all tenses.
Once you can draw parallels and feel the differences, you can use all tenses without much difficulty. Therefore, to begin with, just try to remember how English sentences of the Simple group are constructed, starting with Present. It is extremely convenient to learn and remember grammatical tenses by placing them in a table.
Easy-to-read tense tables are present in all textbooks used at EnglishDom.
So, don't be afraid of any difficulties. Everything starts simple, and everything ingenious is simple too. Having understood the basic principles of sentence construction, you can further adapt and train all tenses, moods and voices.
The main thing is that you can’t grab onto everything at once. Only after you have fully grasped one rule, move on to another. Repeat what you've learned sometimes so you don't forget. But what should never be forgotten is the basic principles of constructing an English sentence. So, it’s always easy to start - train your skills on simple sentences, then, as you understand, complicate them.
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Instructions
Unlike the Russian language, English has a non-free word order. If we can say “I love to sing”, rearranging the words as we please, and the meaning will not change, then the order of the members of the sentence in an English phrase is strict and fixed. One of the first and basic rules that you need to know at the initial stage of study is that any sentence must have a subject and a predicate. Therefore, no matter how the phrase sounds (“It’s getting dark”), it will contain both of the mentioned elements: It’s getting dark.
An affirmative sentence is constructed according to the following scheme: subject expressed by a noun (Subject) + predicate expressed by a verb (Object). A common sentence will look like this: adverbial – definition – subject – predicate – object. To make a statement, first select the two main parts of the sentence - the predicate and the subject - and put them in the desired order, without separating them. Place additions that answer the questions “what?”, “to whom?”, “for what?”, after the predicate in this order: indirect, direct and prepositional. Determiners (“which one?”) always precede the subject; the adverbial circumstance (of time, place) can be placed either at the beginning or at the end of the sentence.
In negative sentences, you must use the particle “not” If the predicate is a regular verb, place after the subject the auxiliary word “do” in the required form (does, did) and not (I don't drink coffee). Attach the particle not to any form of the verb be ( It's not true).
In interrogative sentences, it is necessary to change the word order. There are four types of questions in English: general, alternative, special and the so-called tag-question. In most of them, the main members, additions, circumstances, definitions remain in their places. But at the beginning it is necessary to put a question word (if this is a special question) or an auxiliary verb (is, do, did, etc.). “A question with a tail” has exactly the same word order as a statement, but at the end it is necessary to put the endings isn’t it?, did you, don’t they? and others, depending on which verb is used and in what form - negative or positive.
Learn the sentence construction rules presented above. When you do an exercise in which you need to construct a phrase from existing words, first determine the type of sentence: question, statement, negation. If it is a question, determine its type. Select the main parts of the sentence and put them in the right order. Determine the order of other elements, supply the necessary auxiliary words.
In the lesson below we will look at a very important grammatical topic - the construction of declarative sentences in English. The construction of a declarative sentence in Russian is very different from English. Therefore, be careful and pay enough attention to this topic.
First, answer the question - what is a declarative sentence? A declarative sentence is a sentence that expresses the idea of the presence or absence of some actual or alleged phenomenon. Accordingly, they can be affirmative or negative. They are usually pronounced with a falling intonation.
Features of the English sentence
The Russian language is characterized by free word order, i.e. we can rearrange words in a sentence and its meaning will remain the same. This is due to the fact that the Russian language has a developed system of case endings.
For example:
- The bear killed the hare.
- The hare was killed by a bear.
As you can see, the meaning of the sentence has not changed much. Only the semantic emphasis depends on which member of the sentence comes first. That is, what we want to emphasize comes first. The word "bear" is in the nominative case and is the subject of the sentence wherever it appears. The word "hare" is in the accusative case and is a direct object wherever it appears.
Now let's do the same with the English sentence:
- The bear killed the rabbit.
- The rabbit killed the bear.
Rearranging the words in an English sentence radically changed its meaning. Now the second sentence is translated as “The hare killed the bear.” And all because in the English language there are practically no case endings and the function of a word is determined by its place in the sentence. In English, the subject always comes before the verb. And the word after the verb will serve as a direct object. Therefore, in the second English version it turned out that the word “rabbit” became the subject.
Remember the rule:
The word order in an English declarative sentence is direct (i.e., the subject first, and then the predicate) and strictly fixed!
Rules for constructing narrative sentences
Scheme of word order in an English sentence
| I | II | III | III | III |
| Subject | Predicate | Indirect
addition | Direct
addition | Prepositional
addition |
| My name | is Peter. | |||
| I | like | skating | ||
| Olga | bought | her brother | a car | for a present. |
| My brother | teaches | me | to swim. |
Following the rules of this scheme, when constructing sentences in English, the grammatical basis is first put, i.e., subject and predicate. The complements follow immediately after the predicate. The indirect object answers the question “to whom?”, the direct object answers the question “what?”, and the prepositional object answers “for what?” How?".
As for circumstances, the circumstances of place and time can be either at the end of the sentence, or in the zero place before the subject. Review the following table:
| 0 | I | II | III | III | III | IV | IV | IV |
| Circumstance
time or place | Subject | Predicate | Indirect
addition | Direct
addition | Prepositional
addition | Circumstance
course of action | Circumstance
places | Circumstance
time |
| We | do | our work | with pleasure. | |||||
| Yesterday | he | read | the text | well. | ||||
| I | saw | him | at the school | today. |
According to the rules, the definition can appear with any member of the sentence that is expressed by a noun. It does not have a permanent place in the sentence and also does not change the general obligatory pattern for a declarative sentence. For example:
If necessary, each member of a sentence expressed by a noun can have two definitions: left (located to the left of the word to which it refers) and right definition or attributive phrases (located to the right of the word to which it refers).
Direct word order:
Inversion in a declarative sentence
Inversion in English is a change in word order in relation to the subject and predicate. That is, the placement of the predicate (or part of it) in front of the subject is called inversion.
In declarative sentences, inversion is observed:
1. If the predicate is expressed by the phrase there is/ are (there was/ were, there’ll be, there has been, there can be, etc.).
Examples:
- There is a big lake near our house - There is a big lake near our house (there is - predicate, a lake - subject)
- There was nothing on the table when I returned - There was nothing on the table when I returned
2. In short sentences expressing confirmation or denial with the words so or neither - “So (Neither) do (have, am, can) I”, which are translated by the expression “And I too.” In such replica sentences, the auxiliary verb do is placed before the subject (if in the predicate of the previous sentence the main verb was in the Present Simple or Past Simple) or the verbs will, be, have and other auxiliary and modal verbs (if they were contained in the predicate of the previous sentence).
- She knows Spanish very well. − So does her brother. (She knows Spanish very well. - Her brother too.)
- I like the ice-cream very much. − So do I. (I love ice cream. - Me too.)
- They came too late. − So did we. (They arrived too late. - So did we.)
- I haven’t eaten this ace-cream yet. − Neither have I. (I haven’t eaten this ice cream yet. — Me neither.)
- She can't go home now. − Neither саn I. (She can’t go home now. — Neither can I.)
3. If the sentence begins with the adverbs here - here, there - over there, now, then, and the subject is expressed by a noun.
- Here are the pencils you’d been looking for − Here are the pencils you were looking for
- Here is an example - Here is an example
If the subject is expressed by a personal pronoun, direct word order is used in the sentence.
- Nehe you are − Here you go
- Here it is − Here it is
4. With the verbs had, were, should in a non-union conditional clause.
- Should you meet him in town, ask him to ring me up - If you meet him in the city, ask him to call me
5. In words introducing direct speech, when these words come after direct speech and the subject is expressed by a noun.
- “Who can read the text?” — asked the teacher — “Who can read the text?” - asked the teacher
If the subject in words introducing direct speech is expressed by a personal pronoun, inversion is not used.
- “Who can read the text?” — he asked — “Who can read the text?” - he asked
By remembering the rules for constructing narrative sentences in English, you will be able to correctly express your thoughts. The main thing is to remember what direct word order looks like in English, i.e. learn the scheme. Good luck in learning English!
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A foreign language, in particular English, does not allow “linguistic” liberties. And in general, if we talk about English, it can be compared to mathematics.
Why? The answer is simple. If you know what you need to follow, then the result will be correct. First we multiply, then we add. Approximately the same thing happens in English, where word order is clearly established. And if we have the right to express ourselves in Russian as we please, then we must think in English according to the rules.
- Affirmative sentence
Initially, you should remember that the subject, expressed by a noun or pronoun, comes first.
The Earth revolves around the sun. - The earth revolves around the sun.
First place comes subject– subject, what follows predicate– predicate, after it is located adverbial modifier- a circumstance expressed by an adverb.
It is big and round. – It (the Earth) is big and round.
At the first place - pronoun– pronoun, then the form of the verb to be in the present tense (am, is, are), after it – object- addition.
Let us pay attention to the fact that in English there is ALWAYS a subject and a predicate, regardless of the context.
So, for example, “Morning. It's getting light." can only be translated as It is morning now. The day is dawning.
A definition may appear before the word it characterizes:
Early morning – It is early morning.
So, if the subject comes first and the predicate comes after it, then they are followed by object– addition and adverbial modifier– circumstance.
A loving couple watched the movie yesterday. – A couple in love watched a film yesterday. So we would translate the sentence literally, which we will not do, because in Russian you can say differently: Yesterday a couple in love watched a film.
By the way, the circumstance, in this case the word yesterday, can be placed either at the beginning or at the end of the sentence.
- Negative sentences
The basic rule is to remember that after the subject an auxiliary verb with a particle appears not.
So, for example, returning to the sentence with a couple in love, we note that the negation will be formed as follows:
The loving couple did not watch the movie yesterday. – The couple in love did not watch the film yesterday.
Each tense of the English language has its own auxiliary verbs:
Present Simple – do/does
Past Simple – did
Future Simple – will
For the tenses of the Continuous group, you do not need to add anything other than not. For example,
She is NOT cooking brownies right now. She is sleeping. She's not making brownies now. She is sleeping.
- Interrogative sentences
If in Russian we ask a question using intonation, without rearranging words, then in English a question word and an auxiliary verb appear before the subject. What does this look like?
Why did you refuse to go to the party last night? – Why did you refuse to go to the party yesterday?
Why– question word
Did– auxiliary verb in Past Simple
When have the Post Office workers come out in support of their pay rise claim? When did postal workers go on strike for higher wages?
Frankly speaking, there can only be 3 auxiliary verbs:
- to do
- to be
- to have
Now the main thing is to learn to understand in what case each of them can be used.
What do you feel? - What do you feel?
Have you ever been to Miami? – Have you ever been to Miami?
Is it raining now? - It's raining now?
Despite the difficulties that arise, learn to speak English, mind your own business and remember that the final result depends only on you!
