(Mai no havia vist una posta de sol tan meravellosa.)
The normal order of an English sentence is:
However, there are several groups of expressions which, when they go before the subject, involve the inversion of the subject and the (auxiliary) verb.
Negative expressions before the subject, as well as hardly, seldom, barely, little, and phrases with only, e.g.:
| Never have I seen such a wonderful sunset. (Mai no havia vist una posta de sol tan meravellosa.) |
| Not only were they late, but they didn't even apologise. (No només van arribar tard, sinó que ni tan sols van demanar disculpes.) |
| Hardly had we begun before the projector went wrong. (Amb prou feines havíem començat, quan el projector es va espatllar.) |
| Little did they realise that the police were already on their way. (A penes se'n van adonar que la policia ja estava en camí.) |
| Only much later were we to learn the whole story. (Només molt més tard vam saber tota la història.) |
Phrases of direction and place, when the subject is a noun or noun phrase, e.g.:
| Here comes the taxi. (Aquí ve el taxi.) |
| Down came the rain. (Plovia i plovia.) |
| At the end of the street stood a tall house. (Al final del carrer hi havia una casa alta.) |
| Over the table hung a large candelabra. (Sobre la taula penjava un gran canelobre.) |
| Out of the carriage stepped three young children. (Des del vagó van baixar tres nens petits.) |
Notice that there is no inversion when the subject is a pronoun, e.g.:
| Here it comes. (Aquí ve.) |
| Out of the carriage they stepped. (Des del vagó van baixar.) |
