'主谓' (zhǔ wèi) is a grammatical term meaning 'subject-predicate', referring to the core structural relationship in a Chinese clause: the subject (who or what the sentence is about) and the predicate (what is said about the subject). The character 主 (zhǔ) means 'main' or 'subject', while 谓 (wèi) means 'to say' or 'predicate' — together, they denote the foundational pairing that forms a complete thought. This term is used almost exclusively in linguistic analysis, grammar instruction, and language teaching contexts.

In Chinese syntax, every independent clause must contain at least an implicit or explicit 主谓 structure — even short utterances like '下雨了' (It’s raining) have an understood subject (weather/nature) and a predicate (下雨了). Unlike English, Chinese allows frequent omission of pronouns, but the underlying 主谓 relationship remains essential for grammaticality. Learners often mistake phrases without overt subjects as lacking 主谓 structure, but native speakers intuitively supply them.