What is a subject in Russian. What are subject and predicate? Main members of the proposal

What questions does the subject answer? You will receive the answer to this question in the presented article. In addition, we will tell you about what parts of speech this part of the sentence can be expressed.

General information

Before you talk about what questions the subject answers, you should understand what it is. The subject (in syntax) is the main member of a sentence. Such a word is grammatically independent. It denotes an object whose action is reflected in the predicate. As a rule, the subject names what or who the sentence is about.

What questions does the subject answer?

Sometimes, for the correct and competent writing of a text, it is very important to determine. In order to do this, you should know several rules of the Russian language.

So, the subject answers the questions “Who?” or “What?” It should also be noted that when this member is emphasized by only one line. The subject, as well as all the minor members of the sentence that relate to it, form the composition of the subject.

Expression using different parts of speech

As we found out, the subject answers the questions “Who?” or “What?” However, this does not mean that the presented member of the sentence can only appear in the form of a noun in the nominative case.

The subject is often expressed by other parts of speech that have different forms and categories.

Pronouns

The subject of a sentence can be:

Personal pronoun: She looked right and then left.
Indefinite pronoun: There lived someone lonely and rootless.
Interrogative pronoun: Those who didn't have time are late.
Relative pronoun: He does not take his eyes off the path that goes through the forest.
Negative pronoun: Nobody needs to know this.

Other parts of speech

Once you determine what questions the subject answers, you can find it in the sentence quite easily. But for this you should know that such a term is often expressed as follows:

As you can see, it is not enough to know that the subject answers the questions “What?” or “Who?” Indeed, in order to correctly determine a given member of a sentence, it is necessary to know the features of all parts of speech.

Subject as a phrase

In some sentences, the subject can be expressed syntactically or lexically using indecomposable phrases. Such members usually belong to different parts of speech. Let's look at the cases in which these phrases occur most often:

Other forms

To determine the main member of a sentence, ask questions to the subject. After all, only in this case will you be able to determine it.

So what other possible combinations of parts of speech that appear as subjects in a sentence? Below are some examples:

Plan for parsing the main member of the sentence (subject)

To determine the subject of a sentence, you must first indicate its mode of expression. As we found out above, this could be:

Any single word that belongs to one of the following parts of speech: an adjective, an indefinite form of a verb, a numeral, a pronoun, a participle, a noun in the nominative case, an adverb or another unchangeable form used in the text as a noun.
Syntactically indivisible phrase. In this case, you should indicate the form and meaning of the main word.

Example of parsing sentences

To determine the main member of a sentence, you should ask a question to the subject. Here are some examples:

In this chapter:

§1. The main members of a sentence are the subject and the predicate.

Subject

The subject is the main member of a sentence, independent of other members of the sentence. The subject answers the questions of the IP: who? What?

The subject of a sentence is expressed in different ways.

What is the subject expressed by?

The subject can be a word or phrase.

Most often the subject is expressed:

1) noun: mother, laughter, love;
2) words that have the function of a noun: nouns derived from adjectives or participles: patient, manager, greeter, ice cream, canteen;
3) pronouns: we, no one, anything;
4) numerals: three, five;
5) indefinite form of the verb: Smoking is harmful to health;
6) a phrase, if it has the meaning:
a) togetherness: husband and wife, duck and ducklings, me and my friend;
b) uncertainty or generality: Something unfamiliar appeared in the distance. One of the guests closed the window;
c) quantities: 2 million people live in the city;
d) selectivity: Any of them could become the first. Most students passed the test;
e) phraseological unit: The white nights have come.

Predicate

Predicate- this is the main member of the sentence, denoting what is said about the subject, which is the subject. The predicate depends on the subject and agrees with it. It answers various questions: what does the object do? what's happening to him? what is he like? Who is he? what is this? what is the subject? All these questions are variations of the question: what is being said about the subject? The choice of a specific question depends on the structure of the sentence.

The predicate contains the most important grammatical characteristic of a sentence: its grammatical meaning.

Grammatical meaning- this is the generalized meaning of a sentence, which characterizes its content in terms of two parameters:

reality-irreality,
time.

Reality-irreality expressed by the mood of the verb.

Verbs in the indicative mood are characteristic of statements that reflect the real situation: It’s raining, It’s getting light.
Verbs in the imperative and conditional moods are characteristic of sentences that reflect not a real, but a desirable situation. Don't forget your umbrella! I wish it didn't rain today!

Time- an indicator of the correlation of the situation with the moment of speech. Time is expressed by verb forms of present, past and future tense.

Simple and compound predicate

The predicate in two-part sentences can be simple or compound. Compounds are divided into compound verbal and compound nominal.

Simple predicate- this is a type of predicate in which the lexical and grammatical meanings are expressed in one word. A simple predicate is always a verb. It is expressed by a verb in the form of one of the moods. In the indicative mood, verbs can be in one of three tenses: present - past - future.

He knows poetry by heart.

indicative mood, present time

He knew the poems by heart.

indicative mood, past time

He will learn poetry by heart.

indicative mood, bud. time

You will learn these verses by heart.

imperative

In a circle you would learn poetry by heart.

conditional mood

Compound predicate- this is a type of predicate in which the lexical and grammatical meanings are expressed in different words.
If in a simple verbal predicate the lexical and grammatical meanings are expressed in one word, then in a compound predicate they are expressed in different words. For example:

Suddenly the baby stopped singing and started laughing.

He stopped singing and started laughing - compound predicates. The words sing, laugh call an action, while expressing lexical meaning. The grammatical meaning is expressed by the words: stopped, started

Compound predicates are verbal and nominal.

Compound verb predicate

A compound verbal predicate is a predicate consisting of an auxiliary word and an indefinite form of the verb. Examples:

He finished working.

I want to help you.

Auxiliary words are divided into two groups:

1) verbs with the meaning of the beginning-continuation-end of an action, for example: start, finish, continue, stop, stop;

2) verbs and short adjectives with the meaning of possibility, desirability, necessity: be able, able, want, want, wish, strive, try; glad, ready, must, obliged, intends.

In a compound verbal predicate, auxiliary words express the grammatical meaning, and the indefinite form of the verb expresses the lexical meaning of the predicate.

If the auxiliary word is a short adjective, then it is used with a connective. The connective is the verb to be. Here are relevant examples with the copula in the past tense:

I was so glad to meet you!

In the present tense the word is is not used, it is omitted: the connective is zero, for example:

I'm so glad to meet you!

In the future tense, the connective be is put in the future tense. Example:

I'll be glad to meet you.

Compound nominal predicate

A compound nominal is a predicate consisting of a linking verb and a nominal part. Linking verbs express the grammatical meaning of the predicate, and the nominal part expresses its lexical meaning.

1. The linking verb to be expresses only grammatical meaning. Yesterday she was beautiful. In the present tense the copula is zero: She is beautiful.

2. Linking verbs become, become, become, appear, be considered, appear, be called, introduce themselves: The house from afar seemed like a dot.

3. Linking verbs with the meaning of movement or location in space: come, arrive, sit, lie, stand: The mother returned from work tired. The mother sat thoughtful, sad.

In all these cases, linking verbs can be replaced by the verb to be. The sentences will be synonymous, for example:

The mother sat thoughtful, sad. Synonymous: The mother was thoughtful, sad.

He was considered the most talented of us. Synonymous: He was the most talented of us.

With such a replacement, of course, all the nuances of meaning are not conveyed. Therefore, the language offers various linking verbs that emphasize different shades of meaning.

Combinations of linking verbs with auxiliary words are possible: She dreamed of becoming an actress.

The nominal part of a compound nominal predicate

The nominal part of a compound nominal predicate is expressed in Russian in different ways, and, paradoxically, not only by names. Although the most common and characteristic is the use of names as the nominal part of a compound nominal predicate: nouns, adjectives, numerals. Naturally, names can be replaced by pronouns. And since the role of adjectives and participles is similar, participles can also appear along with adjectives. Adverbs and adverbial combinations are also possible in the nominal part. Examples:

1) noun: Mother is a doctor., Anastasia will be an actress.,

2) adjective: He grew up strong and handsome.,

3) numeral: Twice two is four.,

4) pronoun: You will be mine., Who was nobody will become everything (“International”),

5) participle: The essay turned out to be lost., The daughter was completely cured.,

6) adverb and adverbial combination: The shoes were just right. The trousers were just right.

The nominal part can contain not only individual words, but also syntactically indivisible phrases. Examples:

She ran into the room with a cheerful face.
She sat with thoughtful eyes.

It is impossible to say: She ran in with a face., She sat with eyes., because the phrases with a cheerful face and with thoughtful eyes are syntactically indivisible - this is the nominal part of a compound nominal predicate.

Test of strength

Find out your understanding of this chapter.

Final test

Which parts of the sentence are considered the main ones?
- subject and object
- definition, circumstance and addition
- subject and predicate
Can the subject be expressed by words derived from adjectives or participles: manager, sick, in love?
Can the subject be expressed in phrases, for example: me and my friends?
What is the subject in the sentence: Any of you can prepare for the Unified State Exam and pass it successfully.?
- any
- any of you
What characteristics are included in the grammatical meaning of a sentence?
- reality - unreality and time
- type and time
Is it true that a simple verbal predicate is a predicate whose lexical and grammatical meaning is expressed by one verb?
Is it true that a compound predicate is a special type of predicate whose lexical and grammatical meanings are expressed in different words?
I can't help you.?
- simple verb
- compound verb
- compound nominal
What is the predicate in the sentence: He was always considered serious.?
- simple verb
- compound verb
- compound nominal
What is the predicate in the sentence: Twice two is four.?
- simple verb
- compound verb
- compound nominal

As you know, the grammatical basis of a sentence consists of two parts: the subject and the predicate. The subject corresponds to the question “What/who is the sentence talking about?” Let's consider this main member of the proposal in more detail.

How can the subject be expressed?

The subject can be expressed by almost any part of speech. The most common ways of expressing it are:

Noun ( Mother knit me a sweater.).
Personal or other type of pronoun ( She doesn't understand us.)
Verb infinitive ( Love means always supporting.).
Communion ( Finder returned the book to the library.).
Adjective ( Senior rose from the table.).
Numeral (Three ran somewhere along the road.).

These cases are the most common. In some situations, whole expressions, for example, phraseological units, can be subjects. Much less often, conjunctions, particles or prepositions act as this part of the grammatical basis. This is only possible if they perform a nominal function and become grammatically similar to names. For example: " Or" is a union.

It is important to remember that if the subject is expressed by any tense part of speech, it must be in the Nominative case form. It is important here not to confuse it with the Accusative, since both of these case forms answer the question “what?” Nouns in the Accusative case are not subjects, but direct objects.

Parsing the subject

The grammatical basis can be parsed syntactically. If we need to analyze the subject, then we need to answer two main questions:

What part of speech is it expressed?
What form is this part of speech in?

In most cases it will turn out that we are dealing with a noun in the Nominative case. Here is an example of a sentence where the subject is expressed by a phrase:

"Through thorns to the stars" - this was the composer's motto.

In this case, the subject is the quotation. We cannot determine its shape. Let us pay attention to the fact that syntactic analysis is not carried out within the quotation, and the entire quotation is one member of the sentence.

The subject in the Evenki language always appears in the nominative case, singular or plural. In addition to the plural suffix, possessive suffixes can be added to the subject.

The subject can be expressed mainly by a noun and a personal pronoun, as well as by demonstrative, definitive, interrogative, indefinite, negative, participle, negation and conditional gerunds. The subject can also be expressed by adjectives and numerals if they are used in a substitutive role.

Subject - noun

Oinakinmi soma aya bichen. My dog was very good. Edyn sotmarit edyllen. The wind blew stronger. Edu, dunnedut, inkit and I’m oran. Here, on our land, a good life has begun. Kashtanka (Oninakin gerbin) esive savre beeve icheren. Kashtanka (the dog's name) saw a stranger.

The subject can be expressed by a combination of a noun or pronoun in the nominative case with a noun or pronoun in the joint case, while the suffix of aggregate, plurality can be added to the noun in the nominative case (-a, -e, -o, -ya, -e, -e).

Bee asinunmi duduvar bidechetyn. A man and his wife lived in their yurt. Turakia nyuanyakinun guldychetyn, umukendu bidever. The crow and the goose agreed to live together.

Often, however, a noun or pronoun in the joint case is not part of the subject and serves as an object. In this case, the number and person of the predicate corresponds to the word in the nominative case.

Umneken, August nonolderokin, bi Shariknun beyumesinchev. One day in early August, Sharik and I went hunting. Beetken girkilnunmi oldoxoduk dukaneh (birdhouse) oran. The boy and his friends made a house (birdhouse).

Subject - personal pronoun

Esi tyrga bi ayat beyuktem. I hunted well today. Si iduk emenny? Where did you come from? Agkittu bu gorovo steamship two alatchechavun. At the pier we waited for a long time for the ship. Mit ulleve depchel bichet. We ate meat. Tegemi su lokochovunma odyapgasun. Tomorrow you will do the hanging. Nuӈartyn ulleӈilver nannadin dasta. They covered their meat with skin.

Subject - demonstrative pronoun

Er minnun surusinchen, tar duduvi emenmuchen. This one went with me, that one stayed at home. Taril gunivkil: soma semtu (semtevche) eriӈisun (paektyrevunnun). Those (they) say: your (gun) is very rusty. Tariӈiv (moty), horolisinixa, bururen. That moose of mine turned over and fell.

The demonstrative pronoun, being an independent member of a sentence - subject or object, can have possessive suffixes, as, for example, in the words: eriӈisun it's yours tariff that one is mine etc., forming demonstrative-possessive pronouns.

Subject - attributive pronoun

Dolboltono packed emechel. Everyone came in the evening. Ketedytyn echetyn mine sare. Many of them didn't know me. Hadyltyn hutelnunmer emechel. Some of them came with children. Meneker urikittulever ulleve nisuetip. They took the meat to the camp themselves.

Subject - interrogative pronoun

Ӈi er beeve tagren? Who recognized this man? Ekun hoktorondu bisin? What's on the path?Ӈil laӈdulav tuksasina? Who ran to my trap (ran)? Ekur er potadu bisi? What's in this bag?

Subject - indefinite and negative pronouns

Gorolo ekun-mal ichevren. Something seemed far away.Ӈi-vel avunmav bakaran. Someone found my hat.Ӈi-de eche emenmure, upkat havalnasina. No one stayed, everyone went to work.

Subject - numeral noun

Umukentyn ulumilen bichen. One of them was a good squirrel hunter. Ilantyn dudun emenmuchel. Three of them remained in his yurt. Edu dygin havaldyaatyn. Four (four) will work here.

Subject - adjective

Hegdygu beyuktevki ocha. The biggest (eldest) began to hunt. Ayatkul premiumyava gara. The best received a prize. Sagdagul nyan tatkittula emektevkil. Old people also come to school.

Subject - participle

Ollomidyaril-da, beyumideril-de collected clubtule emere. Both fishermen and hunters came to the meeting at the club. Emechel upkatva ayat ulguchene. Those who came told everything well. Goyovunӈivcha sekteldu hukledechen. The wounded man was lying on the branches.

Subject - the name of the negation achin combined with a noun (or pronoun)

Sovetskaydu Soyuztu hava achinin achin. There is no unemployment in the Soviet Union. Ke edine achinin oran! Well, it's calm! Tulile sunee achin mova ivedechen. On the street, a naked man was chopping wood.

Subject - conditional participle

Dyavrademi urgepchu bichen. The boat ride was difficult. Yavildu duga bidemi with aya. It's very good to live on the loaches in the summer. Dukumi nuan biniven aya bimche. It would be nice to write about his life.

Exercise 139

Read it. Find the subject in each sentence. Disassemble it according to the following scheme:

1. Etyrken ӈinaktai ure oyolin beyumidechen. 2. Duga bu gorotkudu urikittu bidechevun. 3. Tegemi une alagumni pioneerilnun excursiona surudeӈetyn. 4. Yaӈil oyodutyn imanna bivoy. 5. Dur irgichil kitameli khuktydere. Ge sagdy, ge - ilmakta. Ilmakta segdenneduvi vavchave eӈnekenme ugadyachan. Sagdy amardun huktydechen. Sagdy irgichi, beelve, ӈinakirva ichekse, ilmaktaduk vanevi gamalcharan. Tariӈilvun dukte halle. 6. Oi tarilva icheren? 7. Bi kuӈakarduk hanӈuktam: “Ngi minnun surudeen, vegetable garden havaldavi?” Umuker gune: “Bu surudeӈevun.” Gil gune: “Bu-de surudeӈevun.” 8. Tolgokiva irudyari duvun dagadun ilcha. 9. Esi tyrga si munnun klubtule surumches. 10. Misha girkivi gunderiven badechan tededemi. 11. Ele ketedytyn emevkil. 12. Tatkitvun gulen moma.

Any sentence, if it is not a set of words, contains at its core a grammatical core. It is represented by a predicate and a subject, or one of them. Regardless of which part of speech the subject belongs to and its methods of expression, it always has the form of the nominative case. This allows you to quickly determine whether this main member is present in the sentence or not.

Grammatical core

This concept includes the predicate and subject as the main part of the syntactic structure. They are the semantic core of the phrase, explaining what it is talking about, who or what is performing the action.

The predicate is represented by some form of the verb and can be either a simple verbal or a compound, as well as a compound nominal, for example:

The forest stood like a dense wall, as if it didn’t want to let in uninvited guests. Subject “forest” (who? what?). Predicates: 1) “stood” - single, 2) “didn’t want to let in” - a compound construction consisting of two verb forms.
He became a doctor by vocation. (A compound nominal predicate is represented by a linking verb and a nominal part of speech).

If the grammatical basis is represented by both main parts of the sentence, different ways of expressing the subject are possible: both as separate parts of speech and as whole phrases. To find out which word in a syntactic structure it is, you should ask the question “who?” What?".

Important: the accusative case also contains the question “what?”, so you need to remember that the main morphological ways of expressing the subject are represented by the nominative case. For example:

The apple rolled right to my feet. (“Who? What?” apple is the subject in the nominative case).
Picking up the apple that rolled right to my feet, I ate it. (“Who? What?” apple - accusative case).

In Russian, the subject can be represented by nominal or auxiliary parts of speech, an infinitive or a whole phrase.

Noun

This part of speech indicates the subject, revealing the meaning of what it is or who it is. A noun can refer to living or inanimate nature, denote abstract or material concepts, be collective, animate or inanimate, proper or common noun.

If we consider the subject and its methods of expression, then the noun is one of the most common techniques. As a rule, objectified words with both concrete and abstract concepts can act as subjects. Nouns that have an evaluative meaning, for example, hoarder, mischief maker, fool, dunce and others, act as subjects extremely rarely.

The way of expressing the subject of a sentence through a noun is one of the most common.

Pronoun

In second place in terms of frequency of use is the pronoun. It indicates objects, their characteristics or quantity, without naming them. The morphological indicators of pronouns are determined by what part of speech they replace in the text.

Which way of expressing the subject in sentences as a pronoun depends on its type:

It can be presented in a personal form, for example: I missed Professor Ivantsov’s lecture for the first time. (The subject can be expressed either as a singular or plural personal pronoun). For example: We (you, you, they, she, he) missed Professor Ivantsov’s lecture for the first time.
Indefinite pronouns as a way of expressing the subject. Examples: Someone knocked on the door. Someone was calling on the phone and breathing into the receiver.
Negative forms of pronouns: Nothing brings people closer together than a common mortal danger.
The subject and its methods of expression in the form of interrogative-relative pronouns are less common. For example: Who doesn't like snow on New Year and Christmas?

The remaining categories of pronouns can act as subjects in a sentence only if they replace nouns, for example:

It's good that the rain stopped falling. (Demonstrative pronoun “that”).
It was so long ago. (Indicative "it").
Everyone wants to gain recognition from others. (The attributive pronoun is “everyone”).

Noun and pronoun are the main ways of expressing the subject. Other nominative parts of speech are less common.

Adjective

This part of speech conveys the characteristics of objects, answering the questions “whose?” and “which one?” An adjective can only be used as a subject if it replaces a noun in a sentence, for example:

Important: no matter what way of expressing the subject in a sentence, it always answers the questions “who?” what?”, except when using a noun in the oblique case with a preposition, indicating the approximate amount of something, for example: Over a dozen fishing boats went to sea. (Subject "over a dozen").

In some sentences it is difficult to determine the subject, since it is expressed by parts of speech that are rarely used as such.

Participle as subject

This independent part of speech conveys the attribute of an object by its action and answers the questions “which?”, “Which?”. Po combines the properties of a verb and an adjective.

The subject and its modes of expression through participles are only possible when they replace a noun. As a rule, this is the actual form (it denotes the sign of the action that the subject performs) of this part of speech.

For example:

Anyone who has lost their passport must report this to the passport office employee. (The subject “lost” acts as a noun and answers the question “who?”).
The speaker seemed to falter, and there was a pause.
The runners stopped to catch their breath and drink water.

In all sentences, participles, both present and past tense, singular or plural, acted as a noun.

Numeral

This is an independent part of speech that indicates the number of objects. The following are used as subjects:

Quantitative (answer the question “how much?”), for example: Three is a sacred number in many religions. One was different from her friends.
Collective numbers indicate the presence of several objects combined together, for example: Two people entered a bar, and for a second the eyes of the customers turned to them. Both were worthy of winning, but only one will make it to the finals.
Ordinal numbers indicate the place of an object when counting, for example: The first one has the hardest time, since the rest follow him. The second turned out to be tastier than lean soup.

In all the examples given, the numerals answered the question “who?” What?" and played the role of a noun.

Functional parts of speech as subject

Such as interjections, conjunctions, particles and adverbs rarely become subjects in sentences. As a rule, they also replace nouns, for example:

Will there be a new tomorrow? (the adverb “tomorrow” answers the question “what?”).
"And" is a connecting conjunction.
“Let” is used when forming the imperative form of a verb.

Since these are not independent parts of speech, they are used as a subject mainly as explanations in the rules of the Russian language.

Phrases as subjects

Often, complete phrases are used as a way of expressing the subject. The table below shows in which cases they are used:

Type of combination	What does it mean
Numeral or adverb + noun in the genitive case	Number of items	Three guys entered the classroom. Some of the students separated from the group.
Names: numeral and pronoun in the nominative case + pronoun with the preposition “of” in the genitive case	Indicates selectivity of objects	Only three of us will receive the scholarship. Many of us will go to competitions.
Noun or pronoun in the nominative case + noun in the instrumental case with the preposition “s” or “so” and a plural verb	Indicates item compatibility	Brother and brother will always agree. They share everything with them in half.
Words beginning, middle or end + noun in the genitive case	Stage or development	The end of the year has arrived. The beginning of spring was gloomy and winter-like cold.
A combination of a noun with a name or name that agrees with it	Have an indivisible concept	The entire sky was occupied by the shining Milky Way.
Indefinite pronoun with stem “who” or “what” + agreeable adjective or participle	Uncertainty value	There was something indescribable in this moment. It was as if someone invisible was watching us.

Important: the subjects are also stable phrases (terms, formulations, botanical, geographical or other names) or catchphrases. For example:

Aesopian language means fable.
Red currants were born this year.
was on course.

These and similar ones are therefore a single whole as a subject.

Conclusion

To determine the subject, you should ask the question, “who?” or “what?” performs the action in this sentence. The above methods of expressing it will help with this.