Word order, topic and focus: A Juan no lo he visto

Spanish word order is not free, but it is not fixed the way English order is either. What decides it is information structure: what the listener already knows (the topic) usually comes first, and what is new or contrasted (the focus) usually comes last. At C2 you need to hear these choices and make them yourself.

Topics at the front, with a pronoun copy

When a known direct or indirect object moves to the front as the topic, Spanish repeats it with a clitic pronoun (lo, la, los, las, le, les). This is called clitic left dislocation, and the pronoun is obligatory with a definite object.

• A Juan no lo he visto desde el verano.I haven't seen Juan since the summer.
• Las llaves las dejé encima de la mesa.I left the keys on the table.
• A tu hermana le encantó la película.Your sister loved the film.
• Esa novela ya la he leído dos veces.I've already read that novel twice.

The same works with neuter eso and lo: Eso ya lo sé (I know that already). Leaving the pronoun out (El libro ya he leído) sounds wrong unless the object is a contrastive focus (below).

A bare noun with no article usually fronts without the pronoun: Dinero no tengo, pero tiempo sí.

Focus at the front, without a pronoun

A contrasted or emphatic element can also move to the front, but then there is no pronoun copy, it carries the main stress, and the subject usually goes after the verb. Quantifiers and evaluative words do this a lot.

• Poco te ha durado el enfado.Your anger didn't last long.
• Bien sabe ella lo que hace.She knows perfectly well what she's doing.
• Manzanas compré, no peras.It was apples I bought, not pears.

New subjects go after the verb

If the subject is the new information, it goes at the end. This is especially natural with verbs of appearing, arriving and happening, and with gustar-type verbs (Verbs like gustar: encantar, interesar, doler, molestar, parecer).

• Ha llamado tu madre.Your mother called.
• Se ha roto la lavadora otra vez.The washing machine has broken again.

In answer to ¿Quién ha llamado?, Ha llamado tu madre is the neutral reply; Tu madre ha llamado answers a different question (what about your mother?).

Afterthought topics at the end

A topic can also be added at the end, after a pause, again with a pronoun copy. This is common in speech.

• No la he leído todavía, la carta de Elena.I haven't read it yet, Elena's letter.

Questions

In standard Spanish, a question word is followed directly by the verb, and the subject goes after it.

• ¿Qué quiere tu hermano?What does your brother want?

For clefts such as Es ahí donde and Lo que más me molesta es, see Emphasis: es ahí donde, lo que más me molesta es.

Latin America

The same topic and focus rules apply everywhere. In Caribbean Spanish (Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic) ¿Qué tú quieres? without inversion is normal with tú; elsewhere it sounds regional. In Spain, A Juan no le he visto (leísmo with a male person) is also accepted (Leísmo, laísmo, loísmo: Spain's variation and the norm).

Common mistakes

• El informe entregué ayer: a fronted definite object needs its pronoun, El informe lo entregué ayer.
• A la sopa no la he probado: the personal a is for people and personified beings, not for a thing that has been fronted.
• ¿Dónde tu primo trabaja?: put the verb right after the question word, ¿Dónde trabaja tu primo?
• Always putting the subject first, English style: Tu madre ha llamado is not wrong, but it does not present the subject as news.
• Copying a focus with a pronoun: Poco lo te ha durado; contrastive or quantified fronting takes no copy.