Most sentences have a subject; the Predicate is the rest of the sentence which tells us about that subject.
In these examples, the subject of the sentence is Plato and the predicate is highlighted bold.
Plato thought.
Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher.
Plato is the name of my dog.
As you can see, predicates can be a single word or a phrase. In most cases the predicate follows the subject:
{subject} + {predicate}
My father + was a soldier.
My very first car + was a Chevrolet.
Useful Links
Phrases in English Grammar – all about phrase: types, formation, examples.
Sentences in English Grammar – a general look at how sentences are made in English.
SOV in English Sentence Structure – a look at the most common structure of English sentences: subject-verb-object.