Basic Word Order

Level 1Sounds Like kartā karma kraiẏā

In মই চাহ খাওঁ “I drink tea”, মই is the doer, চাহ is the thing and খাওঁ is the verb.

How It Works

English puts the verb in the middle, as in “I drink tea”. Assamese puts it at the end.

DoerThingVerbMeaning
মইচাহখাওঁI drink tea.
সিভাতখায়He eats rice.
তুমিকামকৰাYou work.
আপুনিকিকৰেWhat do you do?

Some sentences have no thing, only a doer and a verb, as in সি নাযায় “he does not go”. A word for a place, such as ঘৰত “at home”, also sits before the verb: সি ঘৰত আছে “he is at home”. A small question word such as নেকি may come after the verb.

The grammar words are কৰ্তা “doer”, কৰ্ম “thing” and ক্ৰিয়া “verb”.

Examples (5)

  1. মই চাহ খাওঁ।

    I drink tea.

    The doer মই comes first and the verb খাওঁ comes last.

  2. সি ভাত খায়।

    He eats rice.

    The thing ভাত stands right before the verb.

  3. তুমি কাম কৰা।

    You work.

    Doer, thing, verb, in that order.

  4. আপুনি কি কৰে?

    What do you do?

    The question word কি takes the place of the thing.

  5. সি ঘৰত আছে।

    He is at home.

    The place word ঘৰত also comes before the verb.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Basic Word OrderLevel 1

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

And 4 more in the full list.