SubjektVerbPaar

SubjektVerbPaar is a term used in linguistics to describe the core relationship in a clause between its subject and its finite verb. The subject is the noun phrase that performs the action or is described, while the finite verb marks tense and agrees with the subject in person and number. The SubjektVerbPaar thus encodes both the essential meaning of the clause and the grammatical agreement between its two central elements.

In German grammar, word order affects how the SubjektVerbPaar is realized. In main clauses, the finite verb typically occupies the second position (the V2 rule), and the subject may appear before or after the verb depending on what element precedes the verb. For example: "Der Hund bellt." or "Heute bellt der Hund." In questions the order often involves subject–verb inversion: "Bellt der Hund?" In subordinate clauses, the finite verb often appears at the end of the clause, as in "weil der Hund bellt" or "dass der Mann geht," though the SubjektVerbPaar remains the linked pair within the clause.

Agreement is a central aspect of the SubjektVerbPaar in German. The verb inflects for person and number to match the subject (ich gehe, du gehst, er geht, wir gehen, ihr geht, sie gehen). Errors in agreement affect both interpretation and grammaticality, and they are a common focus in teaching and automated language processing.

In computational linguistics and natural language processing, SubjektVerbPaar serves as a foundational relation in dependency grammars, parsing, and corpora annotation, supporting tasks such as syntax disambiguation, coreference resolution, and translation.