How to find the subject of a sentence
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Within the syntactic analysis of sentences in Spanish, two of the most important elements that we can find are the subject and the predicate. The first of them, the subject is the name that, according to the dictionary, receives that syntactic function performed by a noun phrase, which agrees in number and person with the verb form. In the same way, the person or thing about which something is said through the verb and the predicate of the sentence is called the subject.
In this lesson of a PROFESSOR we are going to review the concept of subject, we will also see what types of subjects exist in Spanish and, finally, we will how to find the subject of a sentence.
Index
- Definition of subject
- Types of subjects in Spanish
- Learn to find the subject of a sentence
Definition of subject.
Before we get to talking about how to find the subject in a sentence, let's define the concept well. The subject, as we have said before, refers to two questions:
- On the one hand, it refers to the person or thing that performs the action verbal either to the person or thing that receives the action described by the verb.
- And, on the other hand, the subject is the syntactic function by which a noun phrase agrees in person and number with the verb form.
On the other hand, the subject is a syntactic element that not always necessary that is expressly present within the sentence. In this case, we say that it is an elided or elliptical subject, as in the following sentence: We had a wonderful meal at that restaurant, in which it is understood thanks to the verb form "we ate" that the subject of the action is "We" without using the pronoun.
In this other lesson from a TEACHER we discover a syntactic analysis of subject and predicate with examples.
Types of subjects in Spanish.
In Spanish, the subject may or may not be present within the sentence. If not, it is called elliptical or elided subject, whereas if it appears expressly in the sentence, it is a express or explicit subject.
Another classification by which two types of subjects are distinguished in Spanish is the following:
- First of all we have the agent subject which is the one who performs the verbal action and always appears in active sentences.
- In front of the agent subject we find the patient subject which is the one that receives the action of the verb indirectly and appears in passive sentences.
In this video we discover how identify complex subjects in a sentence.
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Learn to find the subject of a sentence.
To know how to find the subject of a sentence the first thing we must do is locate the verb of prayer. From the analysis of the tense and the person of the verb, it will be much easier for us to find the subject of the sentence.
Once we have identified and analyzed the verb form, we proceed to look for the subject, which is that nominal group that has to agree in gender and number with the verb. Let's see it through an example:
Cristina studies at home at night
First we look for the verb, which in the previous case is "study" and we analyze it: "study" is present indicative of the verb study and it is in the third person singular.
Later, we proceed to search for the subject that it has to agree in number and person; "Cristina", which can be replaced by the third person singular pronoun "she".
However,what test can we do in case of doubts whether "Cristina" is really the subject of the verb "study"? Well, what we can do is change the number of the verb; that is, change the verb form from singular to plural, so that the subject also changes, thus agreeing on person and number:
*Cristina study at home at night, Cristina and Paula study at home at night.
Remember that for it to be the subject of a sentence, it must always agree in number with the verb.
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