Verb Object Subject - Definition and Overview

Verb Object Subject - commonly used in its abbreviated form VOS - is a term in Linguistic typology. It represents one type of languages when classifying languages according to the sequence of these constitutents in neutral expressions: Ate oranges Sam.

Examples include Malagasy, (Old) Javanese and Fijian. Note that these three languages are all Austronesian languages.

The other permutations in the order of most common to rarest are:

• Subject Verb Object Sam ate oranges. (e.g. English, German, Kiswahili, Chinese)
• Subject Object Verb Sam oranges ate. (e.g. Japanese, Persian, Latin)
• Verb Subject Object Ate Sam oranges. (e.g. Welsh and Arabic)
• Object Subject Verb Oranges Sam ate. (e.g. Xavante and Apurina)
• Object Verb Subject Oranges ate Sam. (e.g. Hixkaryana)