ABSTRACT
Word order is an important aspect of language, and in Italian it is particularly flexible compared to English. This chapter highlights the most characteristic differences between Italian and English word order, and aims to remind the learner of the main areas of divergence. In English the pronoun subject is always expressed, but in Italian it is used mainly for emphasis and contrast and comes after the verb, which is not usually the case in English. A particular subject position, for example, may be characteristic of a certain person or writer, or of a particular text type- a newspaper article, a novel, a political speech, a sermon, a set of instructions or even a blog. In English, adjectives generally come before the noun, but in Italian, most adjectives can go in any position with respect to the noun: it all depends on their function within the context of the text or conversation.
