Editing Chavacano (section)

===Simple sentence structure (verb–subject–object word order)===

Chavacano is a language with the [[verb–subject–object]] sentence order. This is because it follows the Hiligaynon or Tagalog grammatical structures. However, the [[subject–verb–object]] order does exist in Chavacano but only for emphasis purposes (see below). New generations have been slowly and vigorously using the S-V-O pattern mainly because of the influence of the English language. These recent practices have been most prevalent and evident in the mass media particularly among Chavacano newswriters who translate news leads from English or Tagalog to Chavacano where the "who" is emphasized more than the "what". Because the mass media represent "legitimacy", it is understood by Chavacano speakers (particularly Zamboangueños) that the S-V-O sentence structure used by Chavacano journalists is standardized.

====Declarative affirmative sentences in the simple present, past, and future tenses====

Chavacano generally follows the simple verb–subject–object or verb–object–subject sentence structure typical of Hiligaynon or Tagalog in declarative affirmative sentences:

:'''Ta comprá''' (verb) '''el maga/mana negociante''' (subject) '''con el tierra''' (object).
:'''Ta comprá''' (verb) '''tierra''' (object) '''el maga/mana negociante''' (subject).
::Hiligaynon: Nagabakal (verb) ang mga manogbaligya (subject) sang duta (object).
::Hiligaynon: Nagabakal (verb) sang duta (object) ang mga manogbaligya (subject).
::Tagalog: Bumibili (verb) ang mga negosyante (subject) ng lupa (object).
::Tagalog: Bumibili (verb) ng lupa (object) ang mga negosyante (subject).
:::(‘The businessmen are buying land.’)

The subject always appears after the verb, and in cases where pronominal subjects (such as personal pronouns) are used in sentences, they will never occur before the verb:

:'''Ya andá yo na iglesia enantes'''.
::(‘I went to church a while ago.’)

====Declarative negative sentences in the simple present, past, and future tenses====

When the predicate of the sentence is negated, Chavacano uses the words '''hindê''' (from Tagalog ’hindi’ or Hiligaynon 'indi' which means ’no’; the Cebuano uses 'dili', which shows its remoteness from Chavacano as compared to Hiligaynon) to negate the verb in the present tense, '''no hay''' (which literally means ’none’) to negate the verb that was supposed to happen in the past, and '''hindê''' or '''nunca''' (which means ’no’ or ’never’) to negate the verb that will not or will never happen in the future respectively. This manner of negating the predicate always happens in the verb–subject–object or verb–object–subject sentence structure:

Present Tense

:'''Hindê ta comprá''' (verb) '''el maga/mana negociante''' (subject) '''con el tierra''' (object).
:'''Hindê ta comprá''' (verb) '''tierra''' (object) '''el maga/mana negociante''' (subject).
::(Eng: The businessmen are not buying land. Span: Los hombres de negocios no están comprando tierras)

Past Tense

:'''No hay comprá''' (verb) '''el maga/mana negociante''' (subject) '''con el tierra''' (object).
:'''No hay comprá''' (verb) '''tierra''' (object) '''el maga/mana negociante''' (subject).
::(Eng: The businessmen did not buy land. Span: Los hombres de negocios no compraron tierras)

Future Tense

:'''Ay hindê comprá''' (verb) '''el maga/mana negociante''' (subject) '''con el tierra''' (object).
:'''Ay hindê comprá''' (verb) '''tierra''' (object) '''el maga/mana negociante''' (subject).
::(Eng: The businessmen will not buy land. Span: Los hombres de negocios no comprarán tierras)
:'''Nunca ay/Ay nunca comprá''' (verb) '''el maga/mana negociante''' (subject) '''con el tierra''' (object).
:'''Nunca ay/Ay nunca comprá''' (verb) '''tierra''' (object) '''el maga/mana negociante''' (subject).
::(Eng: The businessmen will never buy land. Span: Los hombres de negocios nunca comprarán tierras)

The negator '''hindê''' can appear before the subject in a subject–verb–object structure to negate the subject rather than the predicate in the present, past, and future tenses:

Present Tense

:'''Hindê el maga/mana negociante''' (subject) '''ta comprá''' (verb) '''con el tierra''' (object) '''sino el maga/mana empleados'''.
::(Eng: It is not the businessmen who are buying land but the employees. Span: No son los hombres de negocios los que están comprando tierras, sino los empleados)

Past Tense

:'''Hindê el maga/mana negociante''' (subject) '''ya comprá''' (verb) '''con el tierra''' (object) '''sino el maga/mana empleados'''.
::(Eng: It was not the businessmen who bought the land but the employees. Span: No fueron los hombres de negocio los que compraron tierras, sino los empleados)

Future Tense

:'''Hindê el maga/mana negociante''' (subject) '''ay comprá''' (verb) '''con el tierra''' (object) '''sino el maga/mana empleados'''.
:'''Ay hindê comprá''' (verb) '''el maga/mana negociante(s)''' (subject) '''con el tierra''' (object) '''sino el maga/mana empleados'''.
::(Eng: It will not be the businessmen who will buy land but the employees. Span: No serán los hombres de negocios los que compren tierras, sino los empleados)

The negator '''nunca''' can appear before the subject in a subject–verb–object structure to strongly negate (or denote impossibility) the subject rather than the predicate in the future tense:

Future Tense

:'''Nunca el maga/mana negociante''' (subject) '''ay comprá''' (verb) '''con el tierra''' (object) '''sino el maga/mana empleados'''.
:'''Nunca ay comprá''' (verb) '''el mana/maga negociante''' (subject) '''con el tierra''' (object) '''sino el maga/mana empleados'''.
::(Eng: It will never be the businessmen who will buy land but the employees. Span: Nunca serán los hombres de negocios los que compren tierras, sino los empleados)

The negator '''no hay''' and '''nunca''' can also appear before the subject to negate the predicate in a subject–verb–object structure in the past and future tenses respectively. Using '''nunca''' before the subject to negate the predicate in a subject–verb–object structure denotes strong negation or impossibility for the subject to perform the action in the future:

Past Tense

:'''No hay el maga/mana negociante''' (subject) '''comprá''' (verb) '''con el tierra''' (object).
::(Eng: The businessmen did not buy land. Span: Los hombres de negocios no compraron tierras)

Future Tense

:'''Nunca el maga/mana negociante''' (subject) '''ay comprá''' (verb) '''con el tierra''' (object).
::(Eng: The businessmen will never buy land. Span: Los hombres de negocios nunca comprarán tierras)