ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Subject–verb inversion in English

In English, we usually have a certain order that we say our words in. For example, we would normally say "I am going to the store" instead of "Am I going to the store?" This is because we like to have our subject (the person or thing doing the action) come before our verb (the action being done).

However, sometimes we want to emphasize something or ask a question in a different way. When we do this, we might change the order of our words and put the verb before the subject. This is called subject-verb inversion.

For example, let's say you saw a really cool bird outside and you want to ask your friend about it. Instead of just saying "Did you see that bird?" (which is still correct), you could say "See that bird, did you?" This puts the verb "see" before the subject "you" to emphasize the action, and to make it sound more interesting and exciting!

Overall, subject-verb inversion is a way to switch up the order of our words in English for emphasis or to ask questions in a different way.