Notes on Word Order in Russian

This post was originally written by olimo for Duolingo Russian forum.

This post is inspired by tons of comments asking if you can use another word order. Sometimes I even read that the word order does not matter because Russian is an inflected language.

You have to know that the word order is not completely random. Sometimes you can change it without any change in the meaning, and sometimes you'll give the sentence another tone or even turn it into a nonsense.

Here is an example. The initial sentence is "Кошки здесь нет," the default translation being "The cat is not here." The words in italic are stressed.

• Кошки здесь нет. The cat is not here. Pretty neutral, no emphasis on whatever.
• Здесь нет кошки. There is no cat here. Pretty neutral, no emphasis on whatever.
• Кошки нет здесь. The cat is not here. A less common word order, emphasizing "not".
• Нет здесь кошки! There's no cat here! (I fail too see any cat here!)
• Нет кошки здесь! The cat is not here! (I looked for it and couldn't find it, I swear!)
• Здесь кошки нет. The cat is not here (but I'll keep looking for it elsewhere).

Note that some of these versions are pretty emotional and situational. Should you learn them all while you're still a beginner? I don't think so. That is why, I believe, many possible but not very common versions are not accepted - just so that you would not pick one of them as your favorite and sound funny when using it in the wrong context.

I have to admit I came to enjoy answering all those questions.

Keep asking, and happy learning!