[#DuolingoForumGems originally posted on 2021-11-23 on the Duolingo Hungarian for English speakers forum by peter.kristof.hu ] 

The VSO word order

Or rather VS(O). Anyway, this is an inaccurate naming: Verb-Subject-Object. It can be considered Other instead of Object, partly because some sentences have no object.

VSO is a syntactic level description. (You can read more about SVO/SOV/etc. word order here.)

Speaking of linguistics, we can distinguish three abstract levels:

• Pragmatics
• Semantics
• Syntax

Syntax is the study of sentence structure and the rules of grammar.
Semantics deals with the meaning of sentences.
Pragmatics is concerned with the meaning of sentences within a particular context.

The other pair of concepts, the Topic-Comment. It is a pragmatic level notion. It is clear that the topic must be something known, introduced in the discourse, or otherwise known because the comment makes a statement about it. On the other hand, the focus can bring highlighted new information.

If a sentence lacks the focus, it is said to be a neutral sentence. If there is no topic, we say it is a so-called thetic sentence. VS(O) sentences are like this, but there are other structured thetic sentences as well. The opposite of the thetic sentence is the categorical one.

A neutral SVO sentence:

Topic	Comment        (Pragmatic level)

S	V	O        (Syntactic level)
A macska	megeszi	az egeret.

Other neutral sentences are conceivable for this one:

A macska az egeret megeszi.
Az egeret a macska megeszi.
Megeszi a macska az egeret. (Thetic)

If someone insists on the SVO/SOV/etc. classification, then the SVO order can be considered the most natural sentence.

By the way, I wrote more about neutral sentences and word order in general here.

A thetic, VSO sentence:

Topic	Comment        (Pragmatic level)

	V	S	O        (Syntactic level)
	Megeszi	a macska	az egeret.

A thetic sentence can be seen as a comment on the situation rather than as information about something that is already under consideration. Here the topic is the situation itself. No context is required to interpret the sentence. I note that each language can express thetic judgement in different ways. In Hungarian, such a sentence can be recognised syntactically by the VS(O) structure.

Here, I have collected some example sentences. You can ask about these sentences in the following way:

Mi történt? -- What happened?

Dörög az ég. -- The sky is thundering.
Meleg van. -- It is hot.
Jön a vonat. -- The train is coming.
Bejött egy cica. -- A kitten has come in.
Elhagyott a barátnőm. -- My girlfriend left me.
Odaégette Jolán a vacsorát. -- Jolán burned the dinner.
Árulják a lakásukat a szomszédaim. -- My neighbors are selling their apartment.
Érkezett néhány levél. -- There arrived some letters.
Megharapott egy járókelőt egy kutya. -- A dog bit a passer-by.
Kiabál odakint valaki. -- Somebody is screaming outside.
Leesett egy gyerek a villamosról. -- A child has fallen off the tram.