New to Latin—why is the Present Indicative sometimes at the end, and sometimes in the middle of a sentence?

Question

I'm working my way through Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata, and I've come across something that's tripping me up when I try to write.

Example: Gallia est in Europa (pardon the lack of accents); and Arabia quoque in Asia est.

Why is "est" sometimes in the middle of the sentence, and sometimes at the end? The same goes for "sunt."

Answer 1

Latin word order is very free, and the predicate — like est or sunt — can go anywhere. Any of these is valid:

• Gallia est in Europa.
• Gallia in Europa est.
• Est Gallia in Europa.
• Est in Europa Gallia.
• In Europa Gallia est.
• In Europa est Gallia.

The most common choice is Gallia in Europa est (and SOV in general), but the rule — if any — is not to stick to any order but to have variations across any text. An unusual word order can also be used for emphasis. I would say that the largest emphasis in a Latin sentence is on the first word and the second largest one on the last word.