Hello, there! How are you doing? Today we’re going to talk about the subject and the verb in a simple sentences. Of course, if you are able to identify the subject and the verb in simple sentences, you’ll do the same in complex one.
What is the subject? The subject performs the action. And what indicates us the action? The verb of a sentence. However, the definition of the subject can give us problems in some sentences. For that reason, I prefer you to follow the next steps.
1.Identify the verb in the sentence.
2.Is this verb singular or plural? In what person is the verb conjugated?
3.Look for the subject because it must agree with the verb in person and number.
Let’s see some examples.
DANIEL ESTUDIA.
The action is “estudia” (from the verb “estudiar”) and Daniel is the subject because he performs the action which is being indicated by the verb “estudia”.
Furthermore, “estudia” is 3rd person singular from present tense of verb “estudiar”. And Daniel is 3rd person singular too. Then, the subject agrees in person and number with the verb. That’s the real proof we have to do.
MIS AMIGOS JUEGAN A LAS CARTAS.
The verb is “juegan” because it indicates an action (to play which means “jugar”). “Juegan” is 3rd person plural. Then, “a las cartas” is not a noun, is not a pronoun and is not a noun phrase, so it can’t be the subject of the sentence. “Mis amigos” is a noun phrase. Apart from that, “mis amigos” is 3rd person plural (Mis amigos = ellos = they). “Mis amigos” is the subject of this sentence.
ME GUSTA LA TORTILLA.
The verb is “gusta” from “gustar” (to like). What’s the subject? “Me” can’t be the subject because it’s not a personal pronoun and “la tortilla” is a noun phrase. “Gusta” is 3rd person singular and “la tortilla” is 3rd person singular too, right? So we have guessed the subject of this sentence.
If you try to find who perform the action of “gustar”. You will make a mistake, because you might think the subject is “me” and, as we saw before, it can’t be because it isn’t a personal pronoun. If a pronoun is not a personal pronoun (yo, tú, él, nosotros, vosotros, ellos), it can’t be the subject of a sentence.
I hope you like this post. Please, share it with your friends and contacts, because I’ll appreciate this action so much and they’ll learn facts about Spanish.
Take care! See you in the next post!
Letras en Español – Ms. Riesco-Almeida©
Letras en español 