Chinese is SVO like English - subject, verb, object - but two systematic differences govern almost every sentence a beginner builds wrong.
The default frame
Subject + time + place + manner + verb + object. 我昨天在图书馆慢慢地看了三本书 - I yesterday in-the-library slowly read three books. Time and place move before the verb; adverbial manner joins them. Translating "I bought three books yesterday in the store" word-for- word produces the classic learner error - everything after the verb in English migrates forward in Chinese.
Topic comes first
Chinese promotes the thing being talked about to the front, and the comment follows: 那个电影我看过了 ("that movie - I've seen"). 水果我最爱 吃西瓜. It feels marked in English; in Chinese it is the everyday frame, and using it correctly is the difference between correct and natural.
Questions: no inversion, no do-support
A question keeps statement order: 你是学生 → 你是学生吗？ (吗 at the end marks yes/no), or verb-not-verb: 你去不去？ Question words sit where the answer goes, never fronted: 你买什么？ - you buy what? The question-word guide lists the full set.
Two more reliable rules
- Modifiers precede. Adjectives, clauses, everything descriptive attaches left of the noun with 的： 我昨天买的那本红色的书 - "the red book I bought yesterday" has its whole relative clause parked before the noun.
- Negation before the verb: 不去, 没吃, 别去 (don't). 不 negates present/general, 没 negates completed or 有 (没有 = not have).
Common questions
Is Chinese word order the same as English?
The SVO core is the same, but time/place/manner phrases go before the verb in Chinese (after it in English), and questions never invert word order.
Is Chinese SOV or SVO?
SVO for normal sentences: 我吃饭. Topic-prominent fronting (那个电影我看过了) and 把/被 constructions (我把饭吃了) move objects before the verb - those are the exceptions learners meet.
How do you form a question in Chinese?
Keep statement word order and either add 吗 (你去吗?), use verb-not-verb (你去不去?), or place a question word where the answer belongs (你去哪里?).