How to Make Sentences in English – A Simple Guide for Beginners

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Do you sometimes feel stuck when trying to make sentences in English?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone! The good news is that sentence building in English follows clear patterns that you can learn and master.

In this post, I’ll show you how to construct sentences step by step, with examples, practice questions, and explanations so you can start speaking and writing confidently.

Step 1 – Understand the Basic Formula

Most English sentences follow this order:

Subject + Verb + Object (SVO)

• Subject → Who or what the sentence is about

• Verb → The action or state

• Object → The person or thing that receives the action

Example:

I (subject) eat (verb) rice (object).

Practice:Make a sentence with these words: she / drink / tea

✅ Answer: She drinks tea.

💡 Why? 

"She" is the subject, "drinks" is the action, and "tea" is the object.

Step 2 – Add Details

You can make your sentence more interesting by adding adjectives, adverbs, or prepositional phrases.

Formula:Subject + Verb + Object + Extra Details

Example:

My brother plays football every Saturday.

Practice:Make a sentence with these words: we / read / books / in the library

✅ Answer: We read books in the library.

💡 Why? 

"We" = subject, "read" = verb, "books" = object, "in the library" = extra detail.

Step 3 – Make Questions

In English, questions change word order.

• Yes/No Question:Do/Does/Did + Subject + Verb + Object

  Example: Do you like apples?

  
  

• Wh- Question:Question word + Do/Does/Did + Subject + Verb + Object

  Example: Where do you live?

  
  

Practice:Turn this sentence into a question: They play football.

✅ Answer: Do they play football?

💡 Why? 

We add “Do” at the start and keep the verb in the base form.

Step 4 – Make Negative Sentences

To say “no,” use do/does/did + not for most verbs.

For “be” verbs (am/is/are) and modal verbs (can, will, should), just add not.

Examples:

• I don’t like coffee.

• She isn’t ready.

• They can’t swim.

• 
  

Practice: Make this sentence negative: He speaks Spanish.

✅ Answer: He does not (doesn’t) speak Spanish.

💡 Why? 

Add “does not” before the verb, and use the base form “speak.”

Step 5 – Practice and Improve Daily

• Start with SVO order.

• Use short sentences first before moving to longer ones.

• Practice turning statements into questions and negatives.

• Read and listen to English daily to see how native speakers build sentences.

  
  
  
  

Final Challenge

Take the sentence Maria eats bread and change it in 3 ways:

1. Add details → Maria eats bread in the morning.

2. Make it a question → Does Maria eat bread?

3. Make it negative → Maria does not eat bread.

   
   

With these steps, you now have the tools to build clear, correct sentences in English.

Keep practising, and soon you’ll form sentences without even thinking about the rules!