What the sentence is about
Who or what are we saying something about?
Значение
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.
Как распознать
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.
В родном языке
Russian usually links a statement to a subject in the noun's basic form, and the verb changes to match that subject. The subject can act, undergo a change, or simply be described. Some complete Russian sentences, especially about weather or a person's condition, have no subject.
Суп остыл. (Sup ostyl.)
The soup is the subject even though it does not carry out an action.
Книги лежат на столе. (Knigi lezhat na stole.)
The plural verb лежат matches the plural subject книги.
На улице темнеет. (Na ulitse temneet.)
Russian uses no subject word in this sentence.