Which one is the subject?

Question

In Japanese, if I said something like, "It is (a, an)..." and any noun can go where the dots are, does that mean the noun would be the subject or "it" would be the subject? Thanks.

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

if you say a is b, then it is analogous to a = b... so the "it" and the "..." would both be the subject of the sentence.

But in Japanese, you would usually omit the "it" part... like if you are going to say "it is an apple" you would just say "ringo desu".

Answer 2

"it" is the subject, and the noun is the "subject complement"

in a nominal predicate.