Basic sentence structure simply means the basic order of the words in a sentence.
In Spanish, the basic sentence structure is similar to that of English. Take a look at this sentence:
| Miguel | besa | a Marφa. | (Miguel kisses Marφa.) |
| S | V | O |
Miguel is the subject of the sentence. It usually comes first in the sentence.
The word besa indicates that Miguel is doing something. This is the verb of the sentence which usually comes in second place.
Marφa seems to be receiving the action. This is the object of the sentence which usually comes in third place. By the way, in Spanish, if the object is a person, you always put "a" in front of it.
Notice that the sentence structure in the Spanish example is exactly the same as in its English equivalent.
Take a look at another example:
| Marφa | abofetea | a Miguel. | (Marφa slaps Miguel.) |
| S | V | O |
In this example, Marφa is the subject of the sentence. Notice that it comes first in the sentence. The verb abofetea comes next, indicating the action of the sentence. Finally, in third place, we have the object, Miguel, of Marφa’s disaffection.
The order subject—verb—object tells us who’s doing what to whom.