In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae) is a word used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate (a subject complement). The word ''copula'' derives from the Latin noun for a ''link'' or ''tie'' that connects two different things.
A copula is often a verb or a verb-like word, though this is not universally the case. A verb that is a copula is sometimes called a copulative or copular verb. In English primary education grammar courses, a copula is often called a linking verb. Other copulas show more resemblances to pronouns. This is the case for Classical Chinese and Guarani, for instance. In highly synthetic languages, copulas are often suffixes, attached to a noun, that may still behave otherwise like ordinary verbs, for example ''-u-'' in Inuit languages. In some other languages, such as Beja and Ket, the copula takes the form of suffixes that attach to a noun but are distinct from the person agreement markers used on predicative verbs. This phenomenon is known as ''nonverbal person agreement'' or ''nonverbal subject agreement'' and the relevant markers are always established as deriving from cliticised independent pronouns.
In general, the term ''copula'' is used to refer to the main copular verb(s) in a language. In the case of English, this is the verb ''to be''. The term can also be used to refer to some other verbs in the language that fulfill similar functions. Other English copulas include ''to become'', ''to get'', ''to feel'', and ''to seem''. Other verbs can have secondary uses as copulative verbs. In the following example, the past tense of the verb ''to fall'' is used as a copula: "The zebra ''fell'' victim to the lion." These extra copulas are sometimes called "semi-copulas" or "pseudo-copulas".
Most languages have one main copula, but some languages, like Spanish and Thai, have more than one, and some have none.
Copulas have multiple uses.
Several uses of the copula can be categorized:
Identity: "I only want ''to be'' myself." "When the area behind the dam fills, it ''will be'' a lake." "The Morning Star ''is'' the Evening Star." "Boys ''will be'' boys."
Class membership. To belong to a set or class: "She could ''be'' a nurse." "Dogs ''are'' canines." "Moscow ''is'' a large city." Depending on one's point of view, all other uses can be considered derivatives of this use, including the following non-copular uses in English, as they all express a subset relationship.
Predication (property and relation attribution): "It hurts to ''be'' blue." "Will that house ''be'' big enough?" "The hen ''is'' next to the cockerel." "I ''am'' confused." Such attributes may also relate to temporary conditions as well as inherent qualities: "I will ''be'' tired after running." "Will you ''be'' going to the play tomorrow?" but please note that a linking verb has nothing to do with these so called "Be"- verbs (see below).
The verb that often is used as a copula can also be used as an auxiliary verb:
* To form the passive voice: "I ''was told'' that you wanted to see me"
* To form progressive tenses in English: "It ''is raining''"
"To be" also has a non-copular use meaning "to exist" (existential verb): "I want only ''to be'', and that is enough." "''To be'' or not ''to be'', that is the question." "I think therefore I ''am''."
The auxiliary verb function derives from the copular function; and, depending on one's point of view, one can still interpret the verb as a copula and the following verbal form as being adjectival.
Abelard in his Dialectica made an argument against the idea that the copula can express existence based on a ''
reductio ad absurdum''.
In informal speech of English, the copula may be dropped. This is a feature of
African American Vernacular English but is also used by a variety of English speakers in informal contexts. An example: "Where you at? We at the store."
The
double copula is the use of two successive copulas when only one is necessary, as in ''My point is, is that...''. Use of the double copula is one of the
disputes in English grammar.
As in most
Indo-European languages, the English copula is the most irregular verb because of constant use. Most English verbs (traditionally known as "
weak verbs") have just four separate forms, e.g., "start", "starts", "starting", "started". A sizable minority (traditionally known as "
strong verbs") have five separate forms, e.g., "begin", "begins", "beginning", "began", "begun". "To be" is a very special case in having eight forms: "be", "am", "is", "are", "being", "was", "were", "been". At one time, it had even more, including "art", "wast", "wert", and, on occasion, "beest" as a
subjunctive.
From one perspective, the copula always relates two things as subsets. Take the following examples:
# ''John is a doctor.''
# ''John and Mary are doctors.''
# ''Doctors are educated.''
# ''Mary is running.''
# ''Running is fun.''
Example 1 includes John in the set of all doctors. Example 2 includes John and Mary both in the set of all doctors. Example 3 includes the set of doctors in the set of those who are educated.
Example 4 is different. Example 4 includes Mary's state at the time of utterance in the set of states consistent with running. Example 5 then includes the set of states consistent with running in the set of states consistent with fun.
A copula and an
action verb can generally be differentiated by trying to substitute the verb with a form of "to seem" or "to be".
''Example of an Action Verb'': Sam looks at lettuce. Sam seems at lettuce? Sam is at lettuce? The latter two don't make sense, so "looks" in this case is being used as an action verb.
''Example of a Copula'': Sam looks happy. Sam seems happy? Sam is happy? The latter two make sense; "looks" is used as a copula in this case.
Note that this approach falters, in part, with the verb "to appear". In the sentence "Sam appears to be happy", "appears" is a copula. Yet, "seems" but not "is" can be substituted: "Sam is to be happy" means something else entirely.
In
Indo-European languages, the words meaning "to be" often sound similar to each other. Due to the high frequency of their use, their inflection retains a considerable degree of similarity in some cases. Thus, for example, the English form ''is'' is an apparent
cognate of German ''ist'', Latin ''est'' and Russian ''
jest''', even though the Germanic, Italic, and Slavic language groups split at least three thousand years ago. The origins of the
Indo-European copulae can be traced back to four different stems ''*es-'' (''*h
1es-''), ''*sta-'' (''*steh
2-''), ''*wes-'' and ''*bhu-'' (''*bʰuH-'') in most Indo-European languages.
As in English, the verb "to be" (''qopna'') is irregular in
Georgian (a
Kartvelian language); different verb roots are employed in different tenses. The roots -''ar''-, -''kn''-, -''qav''-, and -''qop''- (past participle) are used in the present tense, future tense, past tense and the perfective tenses respectively. Examples:
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| ''Masc'avlebeli v''ar.
| "I ''am'' a teacher."
|-
| ''Masc'avlebeli vi''kn''ebi''.
| "I ''will be'' a teacher."
|-
| ''Masc'avlebeli vi''qav''i''.
| "I ''was'' a teacher."
|-
| ''Masc'avlebeli v''qop''ilv''ar.
| "I ''have been'' a teacher."
|-
| ''Masc'avlebeli v''qop''ili''qav''i''.
| "I ''had been'' a teacher."
|}
Note that, in the last two examples (perfect and pluperfect), two roots are used in one verb compound. In the perfective tense, the root ''qop'' (which is the expected root for the perfective tense) is followed by the root ''ar'', which is the root for the present tense. In the pluperfective tense, again, the root ''qop'' is followed by the past tense root ''qav''. This formation is very similar to German (an Indo-European language), where the perfective and the pluperfective are expressed in the following way:
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| ''Ich'' bin ''Lehrer'' gewesen.
| "I have been a teacher", literally "I ''am'' teacher ''been''."
|-
| ''Ich'' war ''Lehrer'' gewesen.
| "I had been a teacher", literally "I ''was'' teacher ''been''."
|}
Here, ''gewesen'' is the past participle of ''sein'' ("to be") in German. In both examples, as in Georgian, this participle is used together with the present and the past forms of the verb in order to conjugate for the perfect and the pluperfect aspects.
In some languages, copula omission occurs within a particular grammatical context. For example, speakers of
Russian,
Hungarian,
Arabic,
Hebrew, and
Quechuan languages consistently drop the copula in present tense: Russian: я — человек, ''ya — chelovek'' "I (am) a person" (though "суть" (3rd person plural) appears occasionally in academic and archaic language); Hungarian: ''ő ember'', "s/he (is) a human"; Arabic: أنا إنسان ''ʔanā ʔinsān'', "I am human"; Hebrew: ''אני אדם'', "I (am a) human"; Southern Quechua: ''payqa runam'' "s/he (is) a human". This usage is known generically as the zero copula. Note that in other tenses (sometimes in other persons besides third singular) the copula usually reappears.
In Ancient Greek, when an adjective precedes a noun with an article, the copula is understood. Thus, ὁ οἴκος ἐστὶ μακρός, "the house is large," can be written μακρός ὁ οἴκος, "large the house (is)."
In Quechua —Southern Quechua used for the examples—, zero copula is restricted to present tense in third person singular only (''kan''): ''Payqa runam'' — "(s)he is a human"; but: ''(paykuna) runakunam kanku'' "(they) are human".
In Hungarian, zero copula is restricted to present tense in third person singular and plural: ''Ő ember''/''Ők emberek'' — "s/he is a human"/"they are humans"; but: ''(én) ember vagyok'' "I am a human", ''(te) ember vagy'' "you are a human", ''mi emberek vagyunk'' "we are humans", ''(ti) emberek vagytok'' "you (all) are humans". The copula also reappears for stating locations: ''az emberek a házban vannak'', "the people are in the house," and for stating time: ''hat óra van'', "it is six o'clock." However, the copula may optionally get omitted in colloquial language: ''hat óra (van),'' "it is six o'clock."
Hungarian uses a copula to say ''Itt van Róbert'' "Bob is here" (and this not only with regard to third person singular/plural), but not to say ''Róbert öreg'' "Bob is old". This is to relate a subject to a more temporary condition/state taking place in ''space'' (very often in the sense of Lojban ''zvati'': ''la rabyrt. zvati ne'i le zdani'' "Robert is in the house").
Further restrictions may apply before omission is permitted. For example, in the Irish language, ''is'', the present tense of the copula, may be omitted when the predicate is a noun. ''Ba'' the past/conditional cannot be deleted. If the present copula is omitted, the following pronoun ''é, í, iad'' preceding the noun is omitted as well.
Romance copulae usually consist of two different verbs that can be translated as "to be", the main one from the Latin ''esse'' (via
Vulgar Latin ''essere''; ''esse'' deriving from ''*es-''), often referenced as ''sum'', another of the Latin verb's
principal parts), and a secondary one from ''stare'' (from ''*sta-''), often referenced as ''sto'', another of that Latin verb's
principal parts. The resulting distinction in the modern forms is found in Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, and to a lesser extent Italian, but not in French or Romanian. The difference is that the first usually refers to essential characteristics, while the second refers to states and situations, e.g., "Bob is old" versus "Bob is well". A similar division is found in the non-Romance Basque language (viz. ''egon'' and ''izan''). (Note that the English words just used, "essential" and "state", are also cognate with the Latin infinitives ''esse'' and ''stare''.) In Spanish, the high degree of verbal
inflection, plus the existence of two copulas (''ser'' and ''estar''), means that there are 105 separate forms to express the copula, compared to eight in English and one in Chinese.
{|class="wikitable"
! rowspan=2 | Copula
! colspan=3 | Language
|-
! Italian
! Spanish
! English
|- align=left
! align=left | ''Sum''-derived
| ''Bob'' è ''vecchio''. || ''Bob'' es ''viejo''. || "Bob is old."
|- align=left
! align=left | ''Sto''-derived
| ''Bob'' sta ''bene''. || ''Bob'' está ''bien''. || "Bob is well."
|}
In some cases, the verb itself changes the meaning of the adjective/sentence. The following examples are from Portuguese:
{|class="wikitable"
! rowspan=2 | Copula
! colspan=2 | Example 1
! colspan=2 | Example 2
|-
! Portuguese
! English
! Portuguese
! English
|- align=left
! align=left | ''Sum''-derived
| ''O Bob'' é ''bom''. || "Bob is good." || ''O Bob'' é ''parvo''. || "Bob is foolish."
|- align=left
! align=left | ''Sto''-derived
| ''O Bob'' está ''bom''. || "Bob is feeling good." || ''O Bob'' está ''parvo''. || "Bob is acting/being silly."
|}
In certain languages, not only are there two copulas but the syntax is also changed when one is distinguishing between states or situations and essential characteristics. For example, in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, describing the subject's state or situation typically uses the normal VSO ordering with the verb ''bí''. The copula ''is'', which is used to state essential characteristics or equivalences, requires a change in word order so that the subject does not immediately follow the copula (see Irish syntax).
In Slavic languages, a similar distinction is made by putting a state in the instrumental case, while characteristics are in the nominative. This is used with all the copulas (e.g., "become" is normally used with the instrumental). It also allows the distinction to be made when the copula is omitted (zero copula) in East Slavic languages (in other Slavic languages the copula is not omitted).
In Irish, the copula is used for things that are in a permanent state.
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1" valign="top"
| align=left valign=top| || align=right valign=top | || align=left valign=top |
|-
|''Is fear Liam''|| "Liam is a man" ||(lit., is man Liam)
|-
|''Is leabhar é sin''|| "That is a book" ||(lit., is book it that)
|}
The word "is" is the copula (rhymes with the English word "hiss").
The pronoun used with the copula is different from the normal pronoun. For a masculine singular noun, "é" is used (for "he" or "it"), as opposed to the normal pronoun "sé"; for a feminine singular noun, "í" is used (for "she" or "it"), as opposed to normal pronoun "sí"; for plural nouns, "iad" is used (for "they" or "those"), as opposed to the normal pronoun "siad".
To describe non-permanent states, "to be" is used, e.g., ''Tá mé ag rith'' "I am running".
This system resembles the Essence versus state distinction of the Romance copula.
Haitian Creole, a
French-based creole language, has a reputation as being rather exotic from a linguistic standpoint when compared to French and the other Romance languages; its copula system is one of the exotic linguistic features. It has three forms of the copula: ''se'', ''ye'', and the
zero copula, no word at all (the position of which will be indicated with ''Ø'', just for purposes of illustration).
Although no textual record exists of Haitian at its earliest stages of development from French, ''se'' is derived from French (written ''c'est''), which is the normal French contraction of (that, written ''ce'') and the copula (is, written ''est'') (a form of the verb ''être''). Note that French had long since lost any Latin ''esse''/''stare'' distinction by time of the colonization of Haiti, and so no such distinction appears in Haitian Creole.
The derivation of ''ye'' is less obvious; but we can assume that the French source was ("he/it is", written ''il est''), which, in rapidly spoken French, is very commonly pronounced as (typically written ''y est'').
The use of a zero copula is unknown in French, and it is thought to be an innovation from the early days when Haitian was first developing as a Romance-based pidgin. Latin also sometimes used a zero copula.
Which of ''se'' / ''ye'' / ''Ø'' is used in any given copula clause depends on complex syntactic factors that we can superficially summarize in the following four rules:
1. Use ''Ø'' (i.e., no word at all) in declarative sentences where the complement is an adjective phrase, prepositional phrase, or adverb phrase:
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| ''Li te Ø an Ayiti.''
| "She was in Haiti." || (she ''past-tense'' in Haiti)
|-
| ''Liv-la Ø jon.''
| "The book is yellow." || (book-the yellow)
|-
| ''Timoun-yo Ø lakay.''
| "The kids are [at] home." || (kids-the home)
|}
2. Use ''se'' when the complement is a noun phrase. But note that, whereas other verbs come ''after'' any tense/mood/aspect particles (like ''pa'' to mark negation, or ''te'' to explicitly mark past tense, or ''ap'' to mark progressive aspect), ''se'' comes ''before'' any such particles:
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| ''Chal se ekriven.''
| "Charles is writer."
|-
| ''Chal se pa ekriven.''
| "Charles is not writer." cf. with the verb ''kouri'' ("run"): ''Chal pa kouri'', not ''Chal kouri pa.''
|-
| ''Chal, ki se ekriven, pa vini.''
| "Charles, who is writer, not come."
|}
3. Use ''se'' where French and English have a dummy "it" subject:
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| ''Se mwen!''
| "It's me!" French ''C'est moi!''
|-
| ''Se pa fasil.''
| "It's not easy," colloquial French ''C'est pas facile.''
|}
4. Finally, use the other copula form ''ye'' in situations where the sentence's syntax leaves the copula at the end of a phrase:
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| ''Kijan ou ye?''
| "How you are?"
|-
| ''Pou kimoun liv-la te ye?''
| "Whose book was it?" || (of who book-the ''past-tense'' is?)
|-
| ''M pa konnen kimoun li ye.''
| "I don't know who he is." || (I not know who he is)
|-
| ''Se yon ekriven Chal ye.''
| "Charles is a ''writer''!" || (it's a writer Charles is; cf. French ''C'est un écrivain qu'il est.'')
|}
The above is, however, only a simplified analysis.
Japanese has copulas that would most often be translated as one of the so-called be-verbs of English.
The Japanese copula has many forms. The words ''da'' and ''desu'' are used to predicate sentences, while ''na'' and ''de'' are particles used within sentences to modify or connect.
Japanese sentences with copulas most often equate one thing with another, that is, they are of the form "A is B." Examples:
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| 私は学生だ。
| ''Watashi wa gakusei da.'' || "I'm a student." || (lit., I TOPIC student COPULA)
|-
| これはペンです。
| ''Kore wa pen desu.'' || "This is a pen." || (lit., this TOPIC pen COPULA-POLITE)
|}
The difference between ''da'' and ''desu'' appears simple. For instance ''desu'' is more formal and polite than ''da''. Thus, many sentences such as the ones below are almost identical in meaning and differ in the speaker's politeness to the addressee and in nuance of how assured the person is of their statement. However, ''desu'' may never come before the end of a sentence, and ''da'' is used exclusively to delineate subordinate clauses. In addition, ''da'' is always declarative, never interrogative.
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| あれはホテルだ。
| ''Are wa hoteru da''. || "That's a hotel." || (lit., that TOPIC hotel COPULA)
|-
| あれはホテルです。
| ''Are wa hoteru desu''. || "That is a hotel." || (lit., that TOPIC hotel COPULA-POLITE)
|}
Japanese sentences may be predicated with copulas or with verbs. However, ''desu'' may not always be a predicate. In some cases, its only function is to make a sentence predicated with a stative verb more polite. However, ''da'' always functions as a predicate, so it cannot be combined with a stative verb, because sentences need only one predicate. See the examples below.
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| このビールはおいしい。
| ''Kono bīru wa oishii.'' || "This beer is delicious." || (lit., this beer TOPIC be-tasty)
|-
| このビールはおいしいです。
| ''Kono bīru wa oishii desu.'' || "This beer is good." || (lit., this beer TOPIC be-tasty POLITE)
|-
| *このビールはおいしいだ。
| *''Kono bīru wa oishii da.'' || colspan=2 | This is unacceptable because ''da'' may only serve as a predicate.
|}
There are several theories as to the origin of ''desu''; one is that it is a shortened form of であります ''de arimasu'', which is a polite form of である ''de aru''. In general, both forms are used in only writing and more formal situations. Another form, でございます ''de gozaimasu'', which is the more formal version of ''de arimasu'', in the etymological sense a conjugation of でござる ''de gozaru'' and an honorific suffix -ます ''-masu'', is also used in some situations and is very polite. Note that ''de aru'' and ''de gozaru'' are considered to be compounds of a particle で ''de'', and existential verbs ''aru'' and ''gozaru''. です ''desu'' may be pronounced っす ''ssu'' in colloquial speech. The copula is subject to dialectal variation throughout Japan, resulting in forms such as や ''ya'' (in Kansai) and じゃ ''ja'' (in Hiroshima).
Japanese also has two verbs corresponding to English "to be": ''aru'' and ''iru''. They are not copulas but existential verbs. ''Aru'' is used for inanimate objects, including plants, whereas ''iru'' is used for animate things like people, animals, and robots, though there are exceptions to this generalization.
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| 本はテーブルにある。
| ''Hon wa tēburu ni aru''. || "The book is on a table."
|-
| キムさんはここにいる。
| ''Kimu-san wa koko ni iru''. || "Kim is here."
|}
Japanese people, when learning English, usually drop the auxiliary verbs "be" and "do" due to believing incorrectly that "be" is a semantically empty copula equivalent to "desu" and "da".
For sentences with
predicate nominatives, the copula "이다" (i-da) is added to the predicate nominative (with no space in between).
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| 바나나는 과일이다.
| ''Ba-na-na-neun gwa-il-i-da.''. || "Bananas are a fruit."
|}
Some adjectives (usually color adjectives) are nominalized and used with the copula "이다".
1. Without the copula "이다":
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| 바나나는 노랗다.
| ''ba-na-na-neun no-rat-da.''. || "Bananas are yellow."
|}
2. With the copula "이다":
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| 바나나는 노란색이다.
| ''ba-na-na-neun no-ran-saek-i-da.''. || "Bananas are yellow-coloured."
|}
Some Korean adjectives are derived using the copula. Separating these articles and nominalizing the former part will often result in a sentence with a related, but different meaning. Using the separated sentence in a situation where the un-separated sentence is appropriate is usually acceptable as the listener can decide what the speaker is trying to say using the context.
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| 아이스크림은 맛있다.
| ''A-i-seu-keu-rim-eun mash-it-da.''. || "Ice cream is delicious" (The word delicious is derived from "has-flavor")
|-
| 아이스크림은 맛이 있다.
| ''A-i-seu-keu-rim-eun mash-i it-da.''. || "Ice cream has flavor"
|}
The opposite, ice cream is unappetizing, uses the Korean word "없다" (eopt-da), meaning "to not have".
:{| class="wikitable" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1"
| align=left | || align=right | || align=left |
|-
| 아이스크림은 맛없다.
| ''A-i-seu-keu-rim-eun mat-eopt-da.''. || "Ice cream is unappetizing" (The word unappetizing is derived from "doesn't-have-flavor")
|-
| 아이스크림은 맛이 없다.
| ''A-i-seu-keu-rim-eun mash-i eopt-da.''. || "Ice cream doesn't have flavor"
|}
N.B. The characters used are
simplified ones, and the transcriptions given in italics reflect
Standard Chinese pronunciation, using the
Pinyin system.
In Chinese languages, both states and qualities are, in general, expressed with stative verbs (SV) with no need for a copula, e.g., in Mandarin, "to be tired" (累 ''lèi''), "to be hungry" (饿 ''è''), "to be located at" (在 ''zài''), "to be stupid" (笨 ''bèn'') and so forth. These verbs are usually preceded by an adverb such as 很 ''hěn'' ("very") or 不 ''bù'' ("not"). A sentence could also simply use a pronoun and a verb: for example, 我饿。 ''wǒ è.'' "I am hungry."
Only sentences with a noun as the complement (e.g., "this is my sister") use the verb "to be": 是 ''shì''. This is used frequently: For example, instead of having a verb meaning "to be Chinese", the usual expression is "to be a Chinese person", using 是 ''shì''. Some scholars call this verb form an equative verb (EV), as published in some Yale Chinese textbooks.
The history of the Chinese copula 是 is a controversial subject. Before the Han Dynasty, the character served as a demonstrative pronoun meaning "this" (this usage survives in some idioms and proverbs, as well as in Japanese). Some linguists argue that 是 developed into a copula because it often appeared, as a repetitive subject, after the subject of a sentence (in classical Chinese we can say, for example: "George W. Bush, ''this'' president of the United States" meaning "George W. Bush ''is'' the president of the United States). Other scholars do not completely accept the explanation, proposing that 是 served as a demonstrative pronoun and a copula at the same time in ancient Chinese. Etymologically, 是 developed from the meaning of "straight"; in modern Chinese, however, it can be combined with the modifier 的 ''de'' to mean "yes" or to show agreement.
e.g. Question: 你的汽车是不是红色的？ ''nǐ de qìchē shì bú shì hóngsè de?'' "Is your car red or not?"
Response: 是的。 ''shì de.'' "Is.", meaning "Yes.", or 不是。 ''bú shì.'' "Not is.", meaning "No."
A more common way of showing that the person asking the question is correct is by simply saying "right" or "correct", 对 ''duì'', which drops the modifier 的 ''de''; the corresponding negative answer is 不对 ''bú duì'', "Not right."
In Hokkien 是 ''sī'' acts as the copula, and 是 is the equivalent in Wu Chinese. Cantonese uses 係 (Jyutping: hai6) instead of 是; similarly, Hakka uses 係 ''he55''.
===Siouan languages===
In Siouan languages like Lakota, in principle almost all words — according to their structure — are verbs. So, not very unlike in Lojban (see below), not only (transitive, intransitive and so-called 'stative') verbs but even nouns often behave like verbs and do not need to have copulas.
For example, the word ''wičháša'' refers to a man, and the verb "to-be-a-man" is expressed as ''wimáčhaša/winíčhaša/wičháša'' (I am/you are/he is a man). Yet there also is a copula ''héčha'' (to be a ...) that in most cases is used: ''wičháša hemáčha/heníčha/héčha'' (I am/you are/he is a man).
In order to express the statement "I am a doctor of profession," one has to say ''pezuta wičháša hemáčha''. But, in order to express that that person is THE doctor (say, that had been phoned to help), one must use another copula ''iyé'' (to be the one): ''pežúta wičháša (kiŋ) miyé yeló'' (medicine-man DEF ART I-am-the-one MALE ASSERT).
In order to refer to space (e.g., Robert is in the house), various verbs are used, e.g., ''yaŋkÁ'' (lit.: to sit) for humans, or ''háŋ/hé'' (to stand upright) for inanimate objects of a certain shape. "Robert is in the house" could be translated as ''Robert thimáhel yaŋké (yeló)'', whereas "there's one restaurant next to the gas station" translates as "owótethipi wígli-oínažiŋ kiŋ hél isákhib waŋ hé".
The
constructed language Lojban has copulas, but they are rarely used, and are sometimes viewed with distaste in the Lojban community, because all words that express a predicate can be used as verbs. The three sentences "Bob runs", "Bob is old", and "Bob is a fireman", for instance, would all have the same form in Lojban: ''la bob. bajra'', ''la bob. tolcitno'', and ''la bob. fagdirpre''. There are several different copulas: ''me'' turns whatever follows the word ''me'' into a verb that means ''to be'' what it follows. For example, ''me la bob.'' means ''to be Bob.'' Another copula is ''du'', which is a verb that means all its arguments are the same thing (equal).
The E-Prime language, based on English, simply avoids the issue by not having a generic copula. It requires instead a specific form such as "remains", "becomes", "lies", or "equals".
Esperanto uses the copula much as English. The infinitive is ''esti'', and the whole conjugation is regular (as with all Esperanto verbs). In addition, adjectival roots can be turned into stative verbs: ''La ĉielo bluas.'' "The sky is blue."
Likewise, Ido has a copula that works as English "to be". Its infinitive is ''esar'', and, as is the case in Esperanto, all of its forms are regular: The simple present is ''esas'' for all persons; the simple past is ''esis'', the simple future is ''esos'', and the imperative is ''esez'', among a few more forms. However, Ido also has an alternative irregular form for the simple present ("es"), which some Idists frown upon. The possibility to turn adjectives and even nouns into verbs also exist, although this is mostly done by means of an affix, on top of the verbal endings. The affix is "-es-". So, "The sky is blue." can be said as "La cielo bluesas". As can be seen, the suffix "-es-" plus the verbal desinence "-as" are simply the verb "to be" annexed to the adjectival or nominal root.
Interlingua speakers use copulas with the same freedom as speakers of Slavic, Germanic, and Romance languages. In addition to combinations with ''esser'' ('to be'), expressions such as ''cader prede'' ('to fall prey') are common. ''Esser'' is stated, rather than omitted as in Russian.
The existential usage of "to be" is distinct from and yet, in some languages, intimately related to its copulative usage. In language as opposed to formal logic, existence is a predicate rather than a quantifier, and the passage from copulative to existential usage can be subtle. In modern linguistics, one commonly speaks of existential constructions - prototypically involving an
expletive like ''there'' - rather than existential use of the verb itself. So, for example in English, a sentence like "there is a problem" would be considered an instance of existential construction. Relying on unified theory of copular sentences, it has been proposed that ''there''-sentences are subtypes of inverse copular sentences (see Moro 1997 and "existential sentences and expletive ''there''" in Everaert et al. 2006 for a detailed discussion of this issue and a historical survey of the major proposals).
For example:
Arabic: يمكنه أن يبدو أن يكون ذكياً – ''Yumkinuhu ʼan yabdu ʼan yakūna ḏakiyyan.'' — He can appear (to be) smart.
Japanese: 吾輩は猫である。名前はまだない。 ''Wagahai wa neko de aru. Namae wa mada nai'' – ''I am a cat. As yet, I have no name''. — Natsume Sōseki
English: ''To be or not to be, that ''is'' the question''. — William Shakespeare
English: ''[Why climb Mount Everest?] Because it is there''. — George Mallory
Hebrew: אהיה אשר אהיה ''Ehyeh asher ehyeh.'' – ''I am that I am''. — Exodus 3:14.
Russian: ''Страна, которую ищут дети, есть.'' – ''Strana, kotoruju iščut deti, jest'.'' – ''The country, which children are looking for, exists.'' — Mikhail Prishvin
French: ''Je pense, donc je suis.'' – ''I think; therefore, I am''. — Descartes
Latin: ''Cogito ergo sum.'' – ''I think; therefore, I am''. — Descartes
Hungarian: ''Gondolkodom, tehát vagyok.'' – ''I think; therefore, I am''. — Descartes
Turkish: ''Düşünüyorum, öyleyse varım.'' – ''I think; therefore, I am''. — Descartes
Finnish: ''Ajattelen, siis olen.'' – ''I think; therefore, I am''. — Descartes
Filipino/Tagalog: ''Ang kahalagahan ng pagiging seryoso.'' – ''The importance of being Earnest.'' — Oscar Wilde
Other languages prefer to keep the existential usage entirely separate from the copula. Swedish, for example, reserves ''vara'' (to be) for the copula, keeping ''bli'' (to become) and ''finnas'' (to exist, lit. to be found) for becoming and existing, respectively.
Swedish: ''Vem vill bli miljonär?'' – ''Who wants to be a millionaire?''. (Literally "Who wants to become millionaire?") — Bengt Magnusson
Swedish: ''Varför bestiga Mt. Everest? Därför att det finns där.'' – ''Why climb Mt. Everest? Because it is there''. (Literally "Why climb Mt. Everest? Because it is found there") — George Mallory
In Spanish, ''ser'' (to be) is the copula, and ''estar'' (to be, to remain) and ''existir'' (to exist) are for being in a place and existing, respectively.
Spanish: ''Pienso, luego existo.'' – ''I think; therefore, I am''. — Descartes
In ontology, philosophical discussions of the word "be" and its conjugations takes place over the meaning of the word ''is,'' the third person singular form of 'be', and whether the other senses can be reduced to one sense. For example, it is sometimes suggested that the "is" of existence is reducible to the "is" of property attribution or class membership; to be, Aristotle held, is to be ''something''. Of course, the gerund form of "be", ''being'', is its own (vexed) topic: see being and existence.
Along with canonical copular constructions wherein the canonical order of predication is displayed - that is, the
subject precedes the
predicate - as in "a picture of the wall is the cause of the riot," there can also be a symmetric type wherein the order of the two
noun phrases is mirrored as in "the cause of the riot is a picture of the wall" (cf. Everaert et al. 2006). Although these two sentences are superficially very similar, it can be shown that they embody very different properties. So, for example, it is possible to form a sentence like "which riot do you think that a picture of the wall is the cause of" but not "*which wall do you think that the cause of the riot was a picture of". The distinction between these two types of sentences, in the technical sense referred to as "canonical" vs.
inverse copular sentences, respectively - and the unified theory of copular sentences associated to it - has been proven to be valid across-languages and has led to some refinement of the theory of clause structure. In particular, it challenges one of the major dogmas of the theory of clause structure, i.e., that the two basic constituents of a sentence Noun Phrase and Verb Phrase are associated to the logical/grammatical functions of subject and predicate (cf.
phrase structure rules and
sentence (linguistics)).
This perspective has been argued against on empirical grounds, since the Noun Phrase that cooccurs with the Verb Phrase in a copular sentence can be the predicate and the subject be contained in the Verb Phrase. It has been suggested that inverse copular sentences appear to play a sharp role in setting the pro-drop parameter. In Italian, for example, in sentences of the type Noun Phrase verb Noun Phrase, the verb, in general, agrees with the Noun Phrase on the left with one exception: inverse copular sentences. One can construe minimal pairs like ''the cause of the riot is/*are these pictures of the wall'' vs. ''la causa della rivolta sono/*è queste foto del muro'': The two sentences are one the gloss of the other with only one difference: The copula is singular in Italian and plural in English. If one does not want to give up the idea that agreement is on the left, then the only option is to assume that pro occurs between the copula and the Noun Phrase on the left. That pro can occur as a predicate must be in fact independently assumed to assign a proper structure to sentences like ''sono io'' (am I: "it's me"), which can by no means be considered a transformation of *''io sono'', which has no meaning.
Indo-European copula
List of English copulas
Nominal sentence
Predicate (grammar)
Stative verb
Verb
(See "copular sentences" and "existential sentences and expletive ''there''" in Volume II.)
Moro, A. (1997) ''The raising of predicates''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
Tüting, A. W. (December 2003). ''Essay on Lakota syntax''.
Category:Parts of speech
Category:Verb types
ar:عماد (لغة)
bs:Pomoćni glagoli
br:Verb-stagañ
ca:Verb atributiu
de:Kopula
et:Koopula
es:Verbo copulativo
fa:نسبت حکمیه
fr:Copule (linguistique)
ga:Copail
ko:계사 (논리학)
hr:Pomoćni glagoli
io:Kopulo
id:Kopula
is:Tengisögn
it:Copula (linguistica)
he:אוגד
hu:Kopula
nl:Koppelwerkwoord
ja:コピュラ
no:Kopula
nn:Kopula
pl:Copula (łącznik)
pt:Verbo de ligação
ru:Связка (лингвистика)
simple:To be
fi:Kopula
sv:Kopula
tr:Koşaç
vi:Từ liên hệ
