How to Determine the Subject and Predicate in Spanish

You can’t imagine how important it is to be able to correctly determine the subject and predicate in a sentence. These two are absolute foundations of a sentence, and you need to know them well to build both simple and complex sentences.

Learning about the subject and predicate will improve how you speak and write as well as strengthen your understanding of the language.

Let’s dive in to understand this important topic!

What is a Sentence in Spanish?

In order to find a subject and predicate in a sentence, it’s a good idea to first define what a sentence is. Primary school students often think that if something starts with a capital letter and finishes with a point, question mark, or exclamation mark, it’s a sentence. It might be, but not always. Quite often I tell them it’s a fragment, not a sentence. So, what makes a complete sentence? 

A sentence—una oración in Spanish—has two elements: 

• Subject – el sujeto
• Predicate – el predicado 

In English, Spanish, and most other languages, the subject precedes the predicate. Only people who speak Hawaiian and some Celtic languages invert this order. 

Now, let’s analyze in detail both subject and predicate. 

How to Find a Subject and Predicate in a Spanish Sentence

You already know that if you want to look for a subject and predicate in a sentence, the subject will always go first, and the predicate will follow. You already know a lot to identify these two elements. Let’s have a look at each one of them.

The Subject – El Sujeto

The subject is the person, animal, or thing that performs the action expressed by the verb (sujeto agente)—or it suffers or receives the action expressed by the verb (sujeto paciente).

Take a look:

Juan come uvas. 
Juan eats grapes.

The verb in the Spanish sentence is comer. If we just say come uvas, we clearly don’t have all the information we need to understand the purpose of the sentence. In fact, we’re missing a subject. To determine the subject, you have to ask “What?” (¿qué?) or “Who?” (¿quién? / ¿quiénes?) is performing the action in the sentence?

¿Quién come uvas? “Who eats grapes?” Juan. By simply asking this question we can find the subject in this sentence. It is an active subject, sujeto agente, as it is Juan who acts himself.

Let’s look at another example:

Mi primo fue operado ayer. 
My cousin had surgery yesterday.

In this case, you also ask ¿Quién fue operado ayer? “Who had surgery yesterday?” The answer is mi primo (my cousin), but in this case, the subject is un sujeto pasivo, a passive subject, as your cousin did not act himself but received the action.

What can be a subject? A proper noun, a common noun, and a personal pronoun—such as: ella. 

Ella cocina pasta.
She cooks pasta.

It’s also important to note that the subject in a Spanish sentence is often omitted if it can be deduced by the conjugated form of the verb. We call this el sujeto implícito.

Vamos a la playa. (omitting Nosotros)
We go to the beach,

Compré los boletos. (omitting Yo)
I bought the tickets.

Llueve a cántaros. (omitting La lluvia)
It’s raining cats and dogs.

As the form of the verb used gives us information about the subject we can omit it. In English, as most verbs don’t conjugate, we have to put the subject to make things clear. 

The Predicate – El Predicado

You already know the first element of a simple sentence and you also know that the predicate comes right after.

The predicate, el predicado, is the part of the sentence that refers to the subject. It always has a verb and some other elements. So, everything in a sentence that is not the subject is the predicate.

Let’s look again at our first example:

Juan come uvas.
Juan eats grapes.

We already know that Juan is the subject of the sentence, now we need to find the predicate. Easy. Put a line after Juan, and everything that follows is the predicate.

Juan | come uvas.

Come uvas is the predicate whose main verb is come. 

What about the second example I used when talking about the subject?

Mi primo fue operado ayer. 
My cousin had surgery yesterday.

Let’s do the same:

Mi primo  | fue operado ayer. 

Mi primo is the subject, and fue operado ayer that comes after the line is the predicate. As you can see, it’s extremely easy to determine subject and predicate in a Spanish sentence. 

Subject and Predicate Spanish Exercises

Now that you know how to determine subject and predicate in Spanish sentences, why don’t you check your knowledge?

Draw a line in the following sentences between subject and predicate.

1. La casa es muy cara.
2. Él se ríe de todo.
3. Mi clase de español empieza a las cinco de la tarde.
4. Juan y Antonio tienen que mejorar sus calificaciones.
5. Mi mamá siempre lee dos periódicos cada mañana.
6. Ana olvidó el dinero en casa.
7. Mi primo y yo vamos a ir de vacaciones a Guatemala.
8. Mis alumnos ya saben determinar sujeto y predicado.
9. Andrés fue atacado ayer por un ganso.
10. Los precios suben cada año.

Click here for the translation of the sentences and the answer key.

Practice Time

Well done! I’m sure that you were able to determine the subject and predicate in the exercise above. Knowing this part of grammar is a milestone and helps you build solid foundations to build more complicated structures later on.

If you want to learn more about Spanish sentences, check out A Simple Guide to Spanish Sentences and Their Structure.

Practice makes perfect. And the best practice is always with another person. So, if you want to take your Spanish to the next level, sign up for a free class with one of our friendly, native Spanish-speaking teachers from Guatemala. 

Ready to learn more Spanish grammar? Check these out!

• Master the Various Uses of ‘Ya’ in Spanish
• Master the Subjunctive in Spanish
• Suceder, Pasar, and Ocurrir: Spanish Verbs Meaning “to Happen”
• A Simple Guide to Spanish Sentence Structure and Order
• Learn to Use Voseo: Vos in Spanish
• How to Write and Pronounce Spanish Accent Marks
• Master the Spanish Alphabet: Letters, Sounds, and Songs for Everyone
• How to Use the Verb ‘Soler’ in Spanish

Answer Key

1. La casa  | es muy cara.
2. Él  | se ríe de todo.
3. Mi clase de español  | empieza a las cinco de la tarde.
4. Juan y Antonio  | tienen que mejorar sus calificaciones.
5. Mi mamá  | siempre lee dos periódicos cada mañana.
6. Ana  | olvidó el dinero en casa.
7. Mi primo y yo  | vamos a ir de vacaciones a Guatemala.
8. Mis alumnos  | ya saben determinar sujeto y predicado.
9. Andrés  | fue atacado ayer por un ganso.
10. Los precios  | suben cada año.

Translation

1. The house is very expensive.
2. He laughs at everything.
3. My Spanish class starts at five in the afternoon.
4. Juan and Antonio have to improve their grades.
5. My mom always reads two newspapers every morning.
6. Ana forgot her money at home.
7. My cousin and I are going on vacation to Guatemala.
8. My students already know how to determine the subject and predicate.
9. Andrés was attacked by a goose yesterday.
10. Prices go up every year.

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Olga Put

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

I'm a Spanish philologist, teacher, and freelance writer with a Master's degree in Humanities from Madrid. I speak Polish, Spanish, and English fluently, and want to get better in Portuguese and German. A lover of literature, and Mexican spicy cuisine, I've lived in Poland, Spain, and Mexico and I'm currently living and teaching in Madeira, Portugal.

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