The complements of the verb
Verb complements are all those groups of words that accompany the verb within the predicate of a sentence. There are different types depending on the information they provide about the verb; thus, some complements of the verb have to be present in a mandatory way within the sentence while others are dispensable.
It is essential to know the typology of verbal complements to do a good parsing of any sentence. Keep reading this lesson from a teacher and you will learn with us what they are. the complements of the verb and its main functions within the statement.
Index
- Direct Plugin (CD)
- Indirect complement (CI)
- Attributive Complement (Attribute)
- Predicative complement (CPvo)
- Regimen supplement (CRég)
- Circumstantial Complement (CC)
- Agent Complement (CAg)
Direct Plugin (CD)
The direct object (also called direct object) is the part of speech on which the action of the verb falls. If the direct object refers to a person, it is headed by the preposition "a" (
Greeted my mother). To know if we are dealing with a direct object, we must replace the CD with the pronouns "lo, la, las, los":- Yesterday I bought a new pants. - I bought it yesterday.
- We want to see Almodóvar's latest movie. - We want to see it.
The direct object is mandatory when there is a transitive verb in the sentence, since these types of verbs require one or more complements.
Indirect complement (CI)
The indirect object (or indirect object) is the part of speech that indirectly receives the action of the verb. It is introduced by the preposition "a" and is commutable by the pronoun "le, les":
- Yesterday I bought food for my dog. In this case, "my dog" is the IC since it is the one who receives the action of the verb indirectly and "food" is the CD since it is the part of the sentence that receives the direct action of the verb. Putting the phrases in passive form, many times helps us to better identify the direct and indirect complements: The food was bought by me for my dog.
- I wrote a letter to my friend. / I wrote him a letter. In this case, "my friend" is the indirect object of the sentence.
When the indirect object is prepended to the verb, it is duplicated in the pronoun "le, les", as in the following example: They gave Pedro candy - They gave Pedro candy.
Attributive Complement (Attribute)
The attributive complement (commonly referred to as an attribute) appears only in sentences with copulative verbs, which are "to be", "to be" and "to seem". The attribute provides information about the subject and, for this reason, always agrees with the subject in gender and number (We are brothers). Like the direct object, the attribute is pronominalizable by "lo":
- I am Spanish. - I am.
- We are married. - We are.
- You look sad. - You look it.
Predicative complement (CPvo)
Parallel to the attribute, the predicative complement it also describes what the subject is like. The difference with the previous one is that, the predicative is used with all those verbs that are not copulative, since the latter, as we have said previously, carry an attribute. Similarly, the predicative complement should not be confused with the circumstantial complement of manner, since the predicative agrees with the subject and the circumstantial one does not:
- They came to the event with makeup ("made up" is a predicative complement that matches "They").
- They arrived by car to the event ("by car" is a circumstantial complement that does not agree with "Ellas").
Regimen supplement (CRég)
The verbal regime complement receives this name because it is a complement introduced by a preposition that accompanies all those verbs that govern preposition. For this reason, it is always a prepositional phrase and usually goes with intransitive verbs ("to dream of") or pronominals ("to dare to").
It is switchable by tonic person pronouns ("he", "she", "it"): I am ashamed of my behavior. - I'm ashamed of it.
Circumstantial Complement (CC)
The circumstantial complements They are the ones in charge of describe the circumstances in which the action of the verb takes place. The typology of these complements is one of the most varied, since we can find circumstantial complements such as (The cars went fast), of time (We go to the movies on Saturdays), of place (Pablo has a house in Mallorca), of cause (I will be late because there is traffic), of purpose (I want to buy churros for breakfast), quantity (I love you very much), instrument (Bread must be kneaded with your hands) or company (Tonight we go out with my sister).
As its name suggests, circumstantial complements are not strictly necessary for the sentence to make full sense; that is, these add extra information to what is said by the verb: Cut the bread with the knife ("with the knife" is a circumstantial complement because it is not essential to understand the meaning of the verb).
Agent Complement (CAg)
The agent complement is a type of verb complement that is only present in the phrase when it is a passive sentence, since this complement indicates who performs the action described by the verb.
To identify the agent, it is enough to pass the sentence from passive to active and check that the agent in the first becomes the subject of the second:
- The building was inaugurated by the mayor. - The mayor inaugurated the building.
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