What the sentence is about
Who or what are we saying something about?
المعنى
A sentence can tell us what someone or something does, what it is like, or what happens to it. That person or thing is the center of the statement, even when it does not act. Languages may use word order or verb forms to link it to the statement, and some need no separate word when it is understood. Topic is the chosen starting point for a message and can be a different participant.
طريقة التعرّف عليه
Ask which person or thing is presented as doing something, being something, or having something happen to it, not just which one is mentioned first.
في اللغة الأم
In a nominal sentence (jumla ismiyya), a noun or pronoun is followed by what is said about it, often without a verb in the present. In a verbal sentence (jumla fiʿliyya), the sentence begins with a verb, and its subject may follow or be understood from the verb form. The subject can act, undergo a change, or simply be described.
أُخْتِي مُعَلِّمَةٌ. (Ukhtī muʿallimatun.)
The noun naming the sister is followed directly by her occupation.
سَقَطَ الْكُوبُ. (Saqaṭa al-kūbu.)
The subject follows the verb and names something that undergoes an event.
سَافَرْنَا أَمْسِ. (Sāfarnā amsi.)
The ending -nā supplies the subject meaning 'we.'
في اللغة قيد التعلم
English usually uses the subject to name the person or thing it makes a statement about. In an ordinary statement, the subject comes before the verb and can name a doer, someone in a state, or something affected by an action. It is not always the topic or the first phrase in the sentence.
Ella is tired.
Ella is the subject, but she is not carrying out an action.
My bag was found at the station.
The passive sentence presents the bag as the subject, not the person who found it.
After lunch, the kitchen was quiet.
The opening phrase gives the time; the kitchen is the subject.
Learners whose language freely moves sentence parts may move an object into the subject's place and change the meaning. Learners whose language leaves known subjects unspoken may omit a subject that English requires.