There is similar variability in word order in other branches of IE, so that Ancient Greek A N ἀγαθοὶ ἄνδρες vs N A ἄνδρες ἀγαθοί seems to relate to focus / emphasis. The question of why there are pre-nominal adjectives in Germanic at all is not trivial. predicative, new information, restrictive reading and temporary characteristics. post-nominal order and formal or functional properties: attributive, given information, non-restrictive reading, inherent or intrinsic characteristics and weak adjective form – vs. There are proposed correlations between pre-nominal vs. For example the order 'angel holy', 'garment rough', 'thane the foremost', 'sorrow the great' exist in OE. OE order of noun and adjective is not as rigid as it is in Modern English, see Ringe & Taylor §8.7 esp. Ringe (2006) in the predecessor volume From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic is a bit brief on Proto-Germanic syntax, saying 'PGmc syntax reflected the PIE situation with little change,Īside from the development of prepositions'. Ringe & Taylor (2014) The development of Old English has a reasonably extensive discussion of the history of English word order, and A-N order seems to be a fact of Old English as well. In other words, this is and has been a historical fact of the language for many years. The short answer to why we say 'a tall tree' and not 'a tree tall' is that we learned this pattern from listening to other people speaking and those people got their rules from their elders, and so on.

What does an adjective do