Null-subject language

Arabic is considered a null-subject language, as demonstrated by the following example:

Subject information for 'you' and 'he' is encoded in the conjugations of the verbs ساعِد and يساعد.

In Catalan/Valencian, as in Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, etc., the subject is also encoded in the verb conjugation. Pronoun use is not obligatory.

• (Nosaltres) Anem a la platja: We go to the beach.
• (Tu) Ets la meva amiga: You are my friend.
• (Vostès/vosaltres) No són/sou benvinguts aquí: You are not welcome here.
• (Ells) Estan dormint: They are asleep.
• (Jo) Necessito ajuda: I need help.
• (Ell) És a la seva habitació: He is in his bedroom.
• (Ella) Està cansada: She is tired.

In Catalan/Valencian, one may choose whether to use the subject or not. If used in an inclined tone, it may be seen as an added emphasis; however, in colloquial speaking, usage of a pronoun is optional. Even so, sentences with a null subject are used more frequently than sentences with a subject. In some cases, it is even necessary to skip the subject to create a grammatically correct sentence.

Most varieties of Chinese tend to be non-null-subject. Verbs in Chinese languages are not conjugated, so it is not possible to determine the subject based on the verb alone. However, in certain circumstances, most Chinese varieties allow dropping of the subject, thus forming null-subject sentences. One of the instances where the subject would be removed is when the subject is known. Below is an example in Mandarin:

The above example clearly shows that a speaker could omit the subject if the doer of the verb is known. In a Chinese imperative sentence, like the first text, the subject is also left out.

In Galician, as in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, etc., the subject is also encoded in the verb conjugation. Pronoun use is not obligatory.

• (Nós) Imos á praia: We go to the beach.
• (Ti) E-la miña amiga: You are my friend. (Informal singular)
• (Vós) Non sodes benvidos aquí: You are not welcome here. (Informal Plural)
• (Eles) Están durmindo: They are sleeping.
• (Eu) Necesito axuda: I need help.
• (El) Está no seu cuarto: He is in his bedroom.
• (Ela) Está cansada: She is tired.

In Galician, one may choose whether to use the subject or not. If used in an inclined tone, it may be seen as an added emphasis; however, in colloquial speaking, usage of a pronoun is optional. Even so, sentences with a null subject are used more frequently than sentences with a subject. In some cases, it is even necessary to skip the subject to create a grammatically correct sentence.

Hebrew is considered a partially null-subject language, as demonstrated by the following example:

Subjects can usually be omitted only when the verb is conjugated for grammatical person, as in the third-person plural in the example above. In Hebrew one can also construct null-subject sentences as in the Latin and Turkish language examples: "We/you/they are going to the beach" can be expressed as "holkhim la-yam" (הולכים לים), lit. "Are going to the beach." This is truly a null-subject construction.

As in Spanish and Turkish, though, Hebrew conjugates verbs in accordance with specific pronouns, so "we went to the beach" is technically just as much a null-subject construction as in the other languages, but in fact the conjugation does indicate the subject pronoun: "Halakhnu la-yam" (הלכנו לים), lit. "Went (we) to the beach." The word "halakhnu" means "we went", just as the Spanish and Turkish examples indicate the relevant pronoun as the subject in their conjugation. So these should perhaps not be considered to be true null-subject phrases. Potentially confusing the issue further is the fact that Hebrew word order can also make some sentences appear to be null-subject, when the subject is in fact given after the verb. For instance, "it's raining" is expressed "yored geshem" (יורד גשם), which means "descends rain"; "rain" is the subject. The phrases meaning "It's snowing" and "It's hailing" are formed in the same way.

Hindi shows radical pro-drop. This type of pro-drop differs from pro-drop in languages like Spanish where pro-drop is licensed by rich verbal morphology. Radical pro-drop is possible only in NP languages.[1] South Asian languages such as Hindi, in general, have the ability to pro-drop any and all arguments.[2] Here, the case is expressed in a morpheme that is independent from the stem, making the pro-drop possible. [3]

The conjugations of the root verbs (faccio for fare; chiama for chiamare) already imply the subject of the sentences.

Japanese and several other null-subject languages are topic-prominent languages; some of these languages require an expressed topic in order for sentences to make sense. In Japanese, for example, it is possible to start a sentence with a topic marked by the particle wa, and in subsequent sentences leave the topic unstated, as it is understood to remain the same, until another one is either explicitly or implicitly introduced. For example, in the second sentence below, the subject ("we") is not expressed again but left implicit:

In other cases, the topic can be changed without being explicitly stated, as in the following example, where the topic changes implicitly from "today" to "I".

It is also common for Japanese to omit things which are obvious in context. If the above line were part of a conversation about considering purchasing the game, it could be further shortened to:

Verb-conjugation endings in Latin express number and person (as well as tense and mood).

In Polish, the subject is omitted almost every time, although it can be present to put emphasis on the subject.

With subjects: آئون آيس، مون ڏٺو، آئون، کٽيس
Idiomatic translation: I came, I saw, I conquered.

In Spanish, as with Latin and most Romance languages, the subject is encoded in the verb conjugation. Pronoun use is not obligatory.

• (Yo) Necesito ayuda: I need help.
• (Tú) Eres mi amiga: You (informal) are my friend.
• (Vos) Sos mi amiga: You (informal) are my friend.
• (Usted/Ella) Me ve: You (formal) see me / She sees me.
• (Él) Está en su habitación: He is in his bedroom.
• (Ella) Está cansada: She is tired.
• (Nosotros) Vamos a la playa: We go to the beach.
• (Vosotros) Deberíais andaros: You (plural, informal) should leave.
• (Ustedes) No son bienvenidos aquí: You (plural) are not welcome here.
• (Ellos) Están durmiendo: They are asleep.
• (Ellas) Van allí: They (feminine) go there.
• (Yo) ¿Tengo que pagar la empanadilla?: Do I have to pay this empanadilla?

In Spanish, for the most part one may choose whether to use the subject or not. Generally if a subject is provided, it is either for clarity or for emphasis. Sentences with a null subject are used more frequently than sentences with a subject.

Verb conjugations in Tamil incorporate suffixes for number (singular and plural) and person (1st, 2nd and 3rd), and also for gender (masculine, feminine and neuter) in the third person. An explicit subject, therefore, is unnecessary, and can be inferred from the verb conjugation.

Tamil script: முடிந்துவிட்டது
Transliteration: muḍinduviṭṭadu
Literal Translation: It has left, having ended.
Idiomatic Translation: It has come to an end.

Another example:

Even in such non-null-subject languages such as English, it is standard for clauses in the imperative mood to lack explicit subjects; for example:

"Take a break—you're working too hard."

"Shut up!"

"Don't listen to him!"

An explicit declaration of the pronoun in the imperative mood is typically reserved for emphasis:

"You stay away!"

"Don't you listen to him!"

French and German offer less flexibility with respect to null subjects.

In French, it is neither grammatically correct nor possible to include the subject within the imperative form; the vous in the expression taisez-vous stems from the fact that se taire, "to be silent," is a reflexive verb and is thus the object with similar meaning to "yourself" in an English imperative.

In German, the pronoun (singular du or plural ihr) is normally omitted from the informal second-person imperative (Mach das, "Do it"), although it may be added in a colloquial manner for emphasis (Macht ihr das!, "You [guys] do it!"). By contrast, the addressee-specific formal imperative requires the addition of the pronoun Sie (as in Machen Sie das!, "Do it, [sir/ma'am]!") to avoid confusion with the otherwise morphologically identical infinitive, whereas the addressee-nonspecific or "neutral" formal imperative omits the pronoun and moves the verb to final position (as in Bitte nicht stören, "Please do not disturb"). On the other hand, the pronoun wir is always included in the first-person plural imperative (Machen wir das!, "Let's do it!"), with the verb appearing in first position to differentiate the imperative from the indicative mood, wherein the verb appears in second position (as in Wir machen das, "We're doing it").[4]

In Interlingua, pronoun omission is most common with the pronoun il, which means "it" when referring to part of a sentence or to nothing in particular. Examples of this word include

Il pluvia.

It's raining.

Il es ver que ille arriva deman.

It is true that he arrives tomorrow.

Il tends to be omitted whenever the contraction "it's" can be used in English. Thus, il may be omitted from the second sentence above: "Es ver que ille arriva deman". In addition, subject pronouns are sometimes omitted when they can be inferred from a previous sentence:

Illa audiva un crito. Curreva al porta. Aperiva lo.

She heard a cry. Ran to the door. Opened it.

Similarly, Esperanto sometimes exhibits pronoun deletion in casual use. This deletion is normally limited to subject pronouns, especially where the pronoun has been used just previously:

In "official" use, however, Esperanto admits of null-subject sentences in two cases only:

• (optional) in the 2nd person imperative (N.B. The Esperanto imperative is often named "volitive" instead, since it can be conjugated with a subject in any person, and also used in subordinate clauses)

  Venu! Come!

  Vi venu! You [there], come [with me]! (pronoun added for emphasis)

• For "impersonal verbs" which have no semantic subject. In English or French, an "empty" subject is nevertheless required:

  Pluvas. It is raining. FR: Il pleut.

  Estas nun somero. It is summer now. FR: C'est l'été à présent.

  Estas vere, ke li alvenos morgaŭ. It is true that he will arrive tomorrow. FR: C'est vrai qu'il arrivera demain.

  (In this latter case, the sentence is not really no-subject, since "ke li alvenos morgaŭ" ("that he will arrive tomorrow") is the subject.)

Contrary to the Interlingua example above, and as in English, a repeated subject can normally be omitted only within a single sentence:

Ŝi aŭdis krion. Ŝi kuris al la pordo. Ŝi malfermis ĝin.

She heard a shout. She ran to the door. She opened it.

Ŝi aŭdis krion, kuris al la pordo kaj malfermis ĝin.

She heard a shout, ran to the door and opened it.