German and English are both basically subject-verb-object. The general guideline in Old English and German is that the verb comes in the second position, so that if there is an adverb, a prepositional phrase, a subject, or whatever, in the first position, then the verb comes next. German still works like this, but English now prefers the subject before the verb even if there are also other elements before the verb.

The subject-object-verb order you mention for German is what you find in dependent clauses. This was also the case for Old English.

The change came about in the course of the Middle English period, when English lost most of the grammatical endings. Since these endings were no longer there to indicate the grammatical structure of the sentence, having a clear word order became more important, and the order subject-verb-object became somewhat standardized

examples: Verb in 2nd position in independent clauses: OE: we gaþ to Engla land (we go to England) Ger: wir gehen nach England (we go to England)

OE: þa gaþ we to Engla land (then go we to England) Ger: Dann gehen wir nach England (then go we to England)

verb in last position in dependent clauses: OE: þa we to Engla land gaþ, ... (when we to England go ...) Ger: Wann wir nach England gehen, .... (when we to England go ...)