What is the subject of 有 in "张涵请求提前解除合同是有一定法律依据的"?

Question

What is the subject of 有 in "张涵请求提前解除合同是有一定法律依据的"?

Am I right in interpreting this sentence as having 张涵请求提前解除合同 being the subject for the verb phrase 有一定法律依据? So it directly translates to something like: "That Zhang Han requests an early termination of the contract has a certain legal basis"?

The English translation given to me for this sentence, however, is:

张涵请求提前解除合同是有一定法律依据的。 Zhang Han's request for an early termination of the contract does have a legal basis.

However, I can't see how 请求 becomes a subject for 有 since it's not even a noun phrase in the above sentence?

On the other hand, in English, it doesn't make sense to say "That Zhang Han requests an early termination of the contract has a certain legal basis" because it's the request that needs to have a legal basis not the fact that someone is making a request.

Answer 1

Google Translate doesn't always translate a sentence literally.

Both 请求提前解除合同 (request to terminate the contract early) and 提前解除合同的请求 (A request to terminate the contract early) can be the subject of "是有一定法律依据的"

Topic + comment/opinion sentence:

请求提前解除合同 (is the topic)

是有一定法律依据的 (is a comment/opinion)

Subject + V + object sentence:

提前解除合同的(adj) 请求(subject) 是(v) 有一定法律依据的(adj) 请求 (object)"

I repeat: Google Translate doesn't always translate a sentence literally.

I input 提前解除合同的请求 and Google changed the noun 请求 into a verb and gave me the result "Request to terminate the contract early"

On the other hand, in English, it doesn't make sense to say "That Zhang Han requests an early termination of the contract has a certain legal basis" because it's the request that needs to have a legal basis not the fact that someone is making a request.

It make sense when it is a [topic]+[comment] sentence

[topic]: Zhang Han requests an early termination of the contract (the entire sentence is the topic)

[comment]: has a certain legal basis (a comment on the topic)

Answer 2

In Chinese, we can consider the entire verb phrase describing what has happened a scenario/ a subject to discuss, and don’t focus on which type of phrase it is; both noun phrases and verb phrases can serve as subjects.

This flexibility allows for greater versatility in sentence construction compared to English, where subjects are typically nouns or pronouns. In Chinese, verbs and verb phrases can be used directly as subjects without the need for nominalization, which is a common feature of the language.

These two languages simply have different sentence structures.

Answer 3

第一层：主语（张翰）+谓语（请求提前解除合同是有一定法律依据的）

第二层：中心语（请求提前解除合同）+补语（是有一定法律依据的）

第三层：动语（请求）+宾语（提前解除合同）+中心语（是有）+补语（一定法律依据的）

第四层：状语（提前）+中心语（解除合同）

第五层：动语（解除）+宾语（合同）

Answer 4

On the other hand, in English, it doesn't make sense to say "That Zhang Han requests an early termination of the contract has a certain legal basis" because it's the request that needs to have a legal basis not the fact that someone is making a request.

I don't think so. It makes sense to say someone's behavior/action has a legal basis. For example, https://gdpr-info.eu/art-6-gdpr/ says companies' processing of personal data needs a legal basis.

Certainly, making a request without a legal basis won't be prohibited or unlawful, but it won't be supported by the law or upheld by the court.