This is from my Chinese book:
Basic Word Order in Chinese
SUBJECT (who) - TIME (when) - PLACE (where) - PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE - VERB - OBJECT/PURPOSE (why)
SUBJECT
As in English, the Subject occurs at the beginning of the sentence.
TIME
(i.e. when some activity takes place, or when some state exists)
English: at the end of the sentence: Mary was sick YESTERDAY.
Chinese: after (or before) the Subject: Mary YESTERDAY was sick.
PLACE
(i.e. where some event occurs)
English: after the predicate: John lost his money IN HIS OFFICE.
Chinese: before the Verb: John IN HIS OFFICE lost his money.
When a sentence contains both TIME and PLACE:
English: PLACE - TIME: John lost his money IN HIS OFFICE YESTERDAY.
Chinese: TIME - PLACE: John YESTERDAY IN HIS OFFICE lost his money.
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
(i.e. specifies with whom, with what, to whom, for whom, etc. - which qualify the manner or direction of some activity)
English: follows the Verb (or Object): John studied French WITH A GERMAN.
Chinese: precedes the Verb: John WITH A GERMAN studied French.
When a sentence contains, TIME, PLACE, PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE and VERB:
English: VERB - PP - PLACE - TIME: John STUDIED French WITH A GERMAN IN PARIS LAST YEAR.
Chinese: TIME - PLACE - PP - VERB: John LAST YEAR IN PARIS WITH A GERMAN STUDIED French.
OBJECT
Although the Object normally occurs after the Verb, it is important to remember that the Object in Chinese has a great deal of freedom as regards its position in a sentence: it can appear at the very beginning of a sentence, before the Subject, directly before the Verb, or even deleted altogether. In fact, when both parties to a conversation are clear as to the context, Subjects and Objects are often deleted.