subjectpredicate

Subject-predicate refers to a fundamental division in grammar and semantics between the subject of a clause and the predicate that makes a claim about that subject. The subject typically marks who or what the clause is about; the predicate contains the verb and its complements and tells what is said about the subject. In English, a typical clause follows the order subject–verb–object, as in The cat slept on the mat, where "The cat" is the subject and "slept on the mat" is the predicate.

Subject and predicate form the core of predication, a semantic relation describing properties or relations of the subject. The predicate expresses properties (is red) or relations (loves, sits beside) and can include tense, negation, modality, and arguments. Agreement rules often link the subject and the verb: The cat sleeps vs The cats sleep; in more analytic languages, subject and predicate may not visibly coincide in number or form.

In different languages, the relative position of subject and predicate can vary. Some languages place the verb before the subject (VSO, V2), while others allow flexible orders or drop the subject altogether when it is recoverable from context. Predication is also a central notion in logic, where predicates denote properties or relations and terms or variables act as the subjects to which the predicates apply. For example, Loves(John, Mary) states a relation about John and Mary, illustrating how subject-predicate analysis underpins propositions in linguistics and philosophy.