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cop: copula

A copula is the relation between the nominal predicate (přísudek jmenný) and the copular verb být “to be” (or its variants bývat, bývávat). The verb stát se “to become”, despite being counted among copular verbs by some authors, is not analyzed as cop.

We normally take a copula as a dependent of its complement (the nominal predicate). The nominal predicate is usually a noun, an adjective or a participle.

Ondřej je čestný muž . \n Ondřej is honest man .
cop(muž, je)
cop(man, is)

Ondřej je čestný . \n Ondřej is honest .
cop(čestný, je)
cop(honest, is)

Note that the passive participle may be also used as nominal predicate with copula. Hence it may be difficult to distinguish a passive construction from a copula construction. The former focuses on the process while the latter emphasizes the result.

Smlouva byla podepsána v Bílém domě . \n Contract was signed in White House .
auxpass(podepsána, byla)
auxpass(signed, was)

Smlouva byla podepsána červeným inkoustem . \n Contract was signed in-red ink .
cop(podepsána, byla)
cop(signed, was)

The nominal predicate may also be expressed using a prepositional phrase. However, not every occurrence of být “to be” with a prepositional phrase is a copula with a nominal predicate. Phrases expressing the state of the subject are predicates, e.g. Lenka je v kondici “Lenka is in shape”. In contrast, prepositional phrases specifying location are not predicates. The verb být is understood as the existential “to be” in such cases, and thus it itself is the predicate, not just a copula.

Thus the following two sentences receive parallel analyses:

The following two will be parallel, too:

Lenka je v kondici . \n Lenka is in shape .
cop(kondici, je)
cop(shape, is)
case(kondici, v)
case(shape, in)
nsubj(kondici, Lenka-1)
nsubj(shape, Lenka-7)

Lenka je v kuchyni . \n Lenka is in kitchen .
nsubj(je, Lenka-1)
nsubj(is, Lenka-7)
nmod(je, kuchyni)
nmod(is, kitchen)
case(kuchyni, v)
case(kitchen, in)

Treebank Statistics (UD_Czech)

This relation is universal.

20711 nodes (1%) are attached to their parents as cop.

17342 instances of cop (84%) are right-to-left (child precedes parent). Average distance between parent and child is 2.36217468977838.

The following 19 pairs of parts of speech are connected with cop: cs-pos/ADJ-cs-pos/VERB (9162; 44% instances), cs-pos/NOUN-cs-pos/VERB (7522; 36% instances), cs-pos/VERB-cs-pos/VERB (2509; 12% instances), cs-pos/PRON-cs-pos/VERB (737; 4% instances), cs-pos/NUM-cs-pos/VERB (467; 2% instances), cs-pos/ADV-cs-pos/VERB (192; 1% instances), cs-pos/PROPN-cs-pos/VERB (67; 0% instances), cs-pos/PART-cs-pos/VERB (18; 0% instances), cs-pos/DET-cs-pos/VERB (17; 0% instances), cs-pos/SYM-cs-pos/VERB (4; 0% instances), cs-pos/ADJ-cs-pos/NOUN (3; 0% instances), cs-pos/ADJ-cs-pos/ADJ (2; 0% instances), cs-pos/NOUN-cs-pos/NOUN (2; 0% instances), cs-pos/NOUN-cs-pos/SYM (2; 0% instances), cs-pos/NUM-cs-pos/SYM (2; 0% instances), cs-pos/PART-cs-pos/PART (2; 0% instances), cs-pos/ADJ-cs-pos/PRON (1; 0% instances), cs-pos/NOUN-cs-pos/ADJ (1; 0% instances), cs-pos/PRON-cs-pos/ADJ (1; 0% instances).

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1	Změny	změna	NOUN	NNFP1-----A----	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Negative=Pos|Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	jsou	být	VERB	VB-P---3P-AA---	Mood=Ind|Negative=Pos|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin|Voice=Act	3	cop	_	_
3	citelné	citelný	ADJ	AAFP1----1A----	Case=Nom|Degree=Pos|Gender=Fem|Negative=Pos|Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	Z:-------------	_	3	punct	_	_
5	je	být	VERB	VB-S---3P-AA---	Mood=Ind|Negative=Pos|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin|Voice=Act	6	cop	_	_
6	třeba	třeba	ADJ	ACNS------A----	Gender=Neut|Negative=Pos|Number=Sing|Variant=Short	3	conj	_	LId=třeba-1
7	je	on	PRON	PPXP4--3-------	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	dobj	_	LId=on-1|LGloss=(oni/ono)
8	lépe	dobře	ADV	Dg-------2A----	Degree=Cmp|Negative=Pos	9	advmod	_	_
9	prezentovat	prezentovat	VERB	Vf--------A----	Negative=Pos|VerbForm=Inf	6	csubj	_	_


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1	BESO	Beso	PROPN	NNNS1-----A----	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|NameType=Com|Negative=Pos|Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
2	a	a	CONJ	J^-------------	_	1	cc	_	LId=a-1
3	SES	SES	PROPN	NNXXX-----A---8	Abbr=Yes|NameType=Com|Negative=Pos	1	conj	_	_
4	jsou	být	VERB	VB-P---3P-AA---	Mood=Ind|Negative=Pos|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin|Voice=Act	6	cop	_	_
5	dvě	dva	NUM	ClHP1----------	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem,Neut|Number=Plur|NumForm=Word|NumType=Card|NumValue=1,2,3	6	nummod	_	LNumValue=2
6	organizace	organizace	NOUN	NNFP1-----A----	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Negative=Pos|Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
7	se	s	ADP	RV--7----------	AdpType=Voc|Case=Ins	9	case	_	LId=s-1
8	stejným	stejný	ADJ	AANS7----1A----	Case=Ins|Degree=Pos|Gender=Neut|Negative=Pos|Number=Sing	9	amod	_	_
9	posláním	poslání	NOUN	NNNS7-----A----	Case=Ins|Gender=Neut|Negative=Pos|Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No|LDeriv=poslat
10	.	.	PUNCT	Z:-------------	_	6	punct	_	_


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1	Většinou	většina	NOUN	NNFS7-----A----	Case=Ins|Gender=Fem|Negative=Pos|Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
2	byly	být	VERB	VpTP---XR-AA---	Animacy=Inan|Gender=Fem,Masc|Negative=Pos|Number=Plur|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Act	3	cop	_	_
3	určeny	určit	VERB	VsTP---XX-AP---	Animacy=Inan|Gender=Fem,Masc|Negative=Pos|Number=Plur|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	na	na	ADP	RR--4----------	AdpType=Prep|Case=Acc	5	case	_	LId=na-1
5	vývoz	vývoz	NOUN	NNIS4-----A----	Animacy=Inan|Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Negative=Pos|Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	Z:-------------	_	3	punct	_	_
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