Clause

This article is missing information about clauses in non-English languages. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (November 2013)

In language, a clause is a constituent or phrase that comprises a semantic predicand (expressed or not) and a semantic predicate.^[1] A typical clause consists of a subject and a syntactic predicate,^[2] the latter typically a verb phrase composed of a verb with or without any objects and other modifiers. However, the subject is sometimes unexpressed if it is easily deducible from the context, especially in null-subject language but also in other languages, including instances of the imperative mood in English.

A complete simple sentence contains a single clause with a finite verb. Complex sentences contain at least one clause subordinated (dependent) to an independent clause (one that could stand alone as a simple sentence), which may be co-ordinated with other independents with or without dependents. Some dependent clauses are non-finite, i.e. they do not contain any element/verb marking a specific tense.