Function of the words

The Great Cinema of Words

In a sentence, every word has a role—a job to do—to make the sentence meaningful. In grammar, we refer to this as a word's "function." If a word were a movie character, you could think of its function as its role: just as an actor might play different roles depending on the film, a word can change depending on the sentence it appears in.

The Subject

The subject is the main character of the sentence. Without it, the sentence makes no sense—like a story without a hero. Most of the time, it appears at the beginning of the sentence.

It can be a noun, usually accompanied by an article:

It can be a subject pronoun:

It can be a noun phrase—a group of words:

Note: in French, unlike in some other languages ​​(such as Spanish or Italian), the subject must always appear in the sentence! If you construct a sentence without a subject, it means the hero of your story is missing!

The Verb

It is the big boss, the king—the word that sets the tempo for the entire sentence. In French, a sentence must contain a conjugated verb (sentences without verbs do exist, but they are reserved for very specific cases!). This is a fundamental difference from many languages ​​that do not always require a verb (such as Arabic or Turkish). The verb usually sits between the subject and the object, right in the middle of the sentence.

In fact, the verb is so important that, when conjugated, it is considered to have no specific "function" other than itself: it stands on its own.

The Subject Complement

The subject complement helps define the subject; it is the subject's best friend. You find the subject complement after a linking verb (such as *être* [to be], *paraître* [to appear], *sembler* [to seem], *devenir* [to become], *rester* [to remain], *avoir l'air* ​​[to look], etc.).

It can be a noun:

The Object

The object is the sidekick—that fun supporting character who makes the sentence unique. It is usually placed after the verb. Be careful: it looks a lot like the subject complement, but it is slightly different! Notably, it cannot simply be an adjective.

The object can be absent-minded; sometimes it even forgets to show up in the sentence:

The object is a bit eccentric and can wear several hats:

The Direct Object (COD)

This is its simplest guise; the direct object sticks right after the verb—plain and simple!

The Indirect Object (COI)

Depending on the verb it accompanies, the object might dress itself up with a small function word called a preposition. You have to remember which preposition each verb needs!

You can recognize the indirect object by the preposition *de* or *à* placed right after the verb. The magic part is that the meaning of the verb can change because of this!

Adverbial modifiers (circumstantial complements)

Here comes the lineup! An adverbial modifier is never strictly necessary for a sentence to be complete, but it provides the details needed to contextualize the action. There are many types:

Modifier of place: Where does the action take place?

Lucas et Camille sortent en ville. → Lucas and Camille are going out into town.

Nous déjeunons au restaurant. →We are having lunch at the restaurant.

Modifier of time: When does the action take place?

Modifier of accompaniment: With whom or with what?

Adverbial modifiers can be stacked to add as much detail to the sentence as needed:

And the best part is, they can be placed at the beginning or the end of the sentence. It’s convenient—the choice is yours!