Parts of the sentence

Parts of the sentence (gap bo‘laklari) are independent words or phrases that answer a particular question in a sentence and perform a syntactic function. Every independent word is some part of the sentence, while function words, forms of address and parenthetical words are not. The parts fall into two groups: the main parts (subject and predicate) form the core of the sentence, and the secondary parts (object, attribute, adverbial) complete and specify them. Sentence analysis, punctuation and understanding complex sentences in reading tasks all rest on this knowledge. A task on identifying a part of the sentence appears in the exam almost every time.

§1. The predicate — the centre of the sentence

The predicate (kesim) expresses the action or quality attributed to the subject and is the grammatical centre of the sentence. Analysis always starts with the predicate.

• verbal predicate — a finite verb: U keldi (He came), Biz o‘qiymiz (We study), o‘qib chiqdi (with an auxiliary verb);
• nominal predicate — a noun, adjective, numeral, pronoun or adverb: U — talaba (He is a student), Kun issiq (The day is hot), Mening yoshim o‘n yetti (I am seventeen), Bu kitob meniki (This book is mine), Majlis ertaga (The meeting is tomorrow).

Predicate markers: person-number suffixes (talabaman — I am a student), -dir (talabadir), the defective verbs edi, ekan, emish (talaba edi — was a student).

No dash is used if the predicate has emas or the subject is a personal pronoun: Bu kitob emas, U talaba.

Worked example

Find the main parts and punctuate: Mening orzuim shifokor bo‘lish ("My dream is to become a doctor").

1. Subject: orzuim (nima?), nominative; mening is its genitive attribute.
2. Predicate: shifokor bo‘lish — a nominal predicate expressed by a verbal noun.
3. The predicate has no person suffix, no -dir and no defective verb.
4. Both subject and predicate are nominal, so a dash is placed between them.
5. Answer: Mening orzuim — shifokor bo‘lish.

§2. The subject

The subject (ega) names the bearer of the action or quality, answers kim?, nima? (who? what?) and stands in the nominative: Bola o‘qiyapti (The boy is reading), Kitob stol ustida (The book is on the table).
The subject may be expressed by:

• a noun: Bahor keldi (Spring has come);
• a pronoun: Biz tayyormiz (We are ready);
• a nominalised adjective, numeral or participle: Yaxshilar ko‘paysin (May good people multiply), Uchovi keldi (The three of them came), O‘qiganlar yutadi (Those who study win);
• a verbal noun: O‘qish — foydali (Studying is useful).

The predicate agrees with the subject in person and number: Men keldim, Biz keldik. If the subject is not stated, it is recognised from the predicate’s suffix: Ertaga boramiz (we).

§3. The object

The object (to‘ldiruvchi) names the thing or person the action is directed at or that takes part in it:

• direct (vositasiz) — in the accusative (marked or unmarked): kitobni o‘qidi (read the book), xat yozdi (wrote a letter);
• indirect (vositali) — in other cases or with postpositions: do‘stiga yozdi (wrote to his friend), ukasidan so‘radi (asked his brother), qalam bilan chizdi (drew with a pencil), vatan haqida gapirdi (spoke about the homeland).

Questions: kimni? nimani? kimga? nimaga? kimdan? nimadan? kim bilan? nima haqida?

A sentence can have several objects: Onam menga yangi kitob sovg‘a qildi (My mother gave me a new book) — menga is indirect, kitob direct. A direct object occurs only with a transitive verb, so intransitive verbs like keldi, uxladi take no accusative.

§4. The attribute

The attribute (aniqlovchi) expresses a quality of a part of the sentence expressed by a noun and stands before it:

• qualifying (sifatlovchi) — qanday? qaysi? nechta? nechanchi?: yangi kitob (a new book), besh daraxt (five trees), o‘qigan kitob (a book that has been read), uchinchi qavat (the third floor);
• possessive (qaratuvchi) — in the genitive (marked or unmarked): maktabning hovlisi (the school’s yard), mening do‘stim (my friend), maktab hovlisi;
• appositive (izohlovchi) — renames or explains the thing: shoir Navoiy (the poet Navoi), Toshkent shahri (the city of Tashkent), Amudaryo daryosi (the Amu Darya river).

The word an attribute depends on is called the head (aniqlanmish); in analysis the attribute is shown as a separate part.
An extended appositive after the noun is detached: Akam, tajribali shifokor, bizga yordam berdi. (My brother, an experienced doctor, helped us.)

§5. The adverbial

The adverbial (hol) shows the circumstances of the action:

• manner (tarz): qanday? qay tarzda? — tez yurdi (walked fast), kulib gapirdi (spoke with a smile);
• time (payt): qachon? — ertalab keldi (came in the morning), bahorda (in spring);
• place (o‘rin): qayerda? qayerga? qayerdan? — bog‘da (in the garden), shaharga (to town);
• cause (sabab): nega? nima sababdan? — kasalligi uchun kelmadi (did not come because of illness), qo‘rqqanidan (out of fear);
• purpose (maqsad): nima maqsadda? — (came to study), (went to see);

An adverbial can be an adverb, a converb, a noun in a case, or a postpositional phrase. So identify it by the question, not the word class: tez yurdi (adverb), kulib gapirdi (converb), bog‘da o‘ynadi (noun) are all adverbials.

Worked example

Analyse Kecha maktabimizning faol o‘quvchilari ko‘chatlarni hovliga jon-dildan o‘tqazishdi ("Yesterday the active pupils of our school planted the seedlings in the yard wholeheartedly").

1. Predicate: o‘tqazishdi — verbal, 3rd person plural.
2. Subject: o‘quvchilari (kimlar o‘tqazishdi? — who planted?).
3. Attributes of the subject: maktabimizning — possessive, faol — qualifying.
4. ko‘chatlarni — direct object (nimalarni?).
5. kecha — adverbial of time, hovliga — of place (qayerga?), jon-dildan — of manner.
6. Answer: subject, predicate, two attributes, one object and three adverbials.

§6. Order of analysis, word order and elliptical sentences

A reliable order of analysis:

• first find the predicate (the centre, usually at the end);
• from the predicate, find the subject with kim? nima?;
• asking the other questions from the predicate, find the objects and adverbials;
• from the parts expressed by nouns, find the attributes with qanday? kimning?;
• do not mark forms of address, parenthetical words or function words as parts of the sentence.

The usual order is subject — object/adverbial — predicate; an attribute precedes its head. A change of order (inversion) creates emphasis and is common in literary style: Keldi bahor! (Here comes spring!)
In an elliptical sentence a part is missing but can be restored from context: — Qachon kelasan? — Ertaga. (= Ertaga kelaman, I’ll come tomorrow).

Worked example

Which part is kitob in Kitob o‘qidim and in Kitob o‘qildi?

1. In the first, the predicate o‘qidim is 1st person: the subject is the hidden men, and kitob answers nimani o‘qidim? → a direct object in the unmarked accusative.
2. In the second, the predicate o‘qildi is passive, 3rd person: nima o‘qildi? (what was read?) → kitob.
3. Here kitob is nominative and agrees with the predicate → the subject.
4. Answer: an object in the first sentence, the subject in the second.

Check yourself

1. Which part is kitob in Kitob o‘qidim?

2. Which part is shoir in Shoir Hamid Olimjon?

3. What is the predicate in Navro‘z — bahor bayrami?

4. What kind of adverbial is kasalligi uchun in Kasalligi uchun kelmadi?

5. What kind of adverbial is o‘qish uchun in O‘qish uchun keldi?

6. Is the subject stated in Ertaga boramiz?

7. Which part is do‘stimga in Do‘stimga xat yozdim?

8. Which part is bog‘da in Bog‘da gullar ochildi?

Common mistakes

• Taking an unmarked accusative object for the subject.
• Omitting the dash with a nominal predicate, or adding one before a predicate with emas.
• Treating every part with uchun as an adverbial of purpose.
• Calling a possessive attribute an object: maktabning hovlisi is an attribute.
• Treating every word in the dative as an adverbial: kimga? — object, qayerga? — adverbial.
• Marking a form of address or a parenthetical word as a part of the sentence.