Sentence Builder

Why word order is the part that trips people up

You can know every word in a sentence and still build it wrong. Vocabulary is a list you can memorise; word order is a habit, and habits are not learned by reading rules. Most learners discover this the first time they try to speak — the words are all there, but they come out in English order and the sentence lands badly.

This puzzle attacks that directly. You are given the meaning in a language you already know, and the words of the target sentence in the wrong order. Nothing to type, nothing to translate from scratch. Just: where does each piece go?

German, where the verb refuses to stay put

Take "Ich kaufe jeden Morgen Brot" — I buy bread every morning. Move the time to the front and German does something English never does: "Jeden Morgen kaufe ich Brot". The verb stays in second position and the subject jumps behind it. Read that as a rule and you will forget it by tomorrow. Get it wrong four times in this puzzle and it starts to feel wrong when you do it wrong, which is what actually matters.

The same applies to sentences like "Ich habe meinen Schlüssel verloren", where the second half of the verb waits until the very end of the clause.

Other languages, other habits

• Spanish and Portuguese — adjectives usually come after the noun, and the subject pronoun often disappears entirely because the verb ending already says who is speaking.
• French — negation wraps around the verb in two pieces, so "Je n'ai pas assez d'argent" has parts that must sit on either side.
• Turkish — the verb goes at the end, and much of what English uses separate words for is glued onto the end of a word instead.
• Hindi and Punjabi — subject, then object, then verb. "मैं पानी पीता हूँ" is literally "I water drink". English speakers find this the strangest of all at first, and heritage speakers find it completely natural.

How the scoring works

Eight sentences per round. Two points for a sentence you solve cleanly, one point if you used a hint. The hint places the next correct word for you, which is there for when you are genuinely stuck rather than as a way through the round.

Getting it wrong is not punished. The correct sentence appears immediately with your wrong words marked in red, so you can see exactly which piece was in the wrong place. That comparison is the moment the learning happens.

Why Chinese is not included

Chinese is written without spaces between words, so a sentence cannot be cut into tiles the way the other nine can. Splitting it into single characters would make a puzzle about something other than word order. Chinese is available in Word Bridge instead, where it works properly.

Play both games together

They use the same sentences, and they train different halves of the same skill. Word Bridge asks whether you recognise a word. Sentence Builder asks whether you can put words together — which is the harder half, and the one you need when it is your turn to speak. Your day streak counts either one, so a short round of either keeps it going.

Where is my progress saved?

On your own device, in your browser. No account, nothing sent to a server. Clearing your browser data clears your progress and your streak with it.

Other languages