Zero copula is a linguistic phenomenon whereby the presence of the copula is assumed, rather than stated explicitly as a verb. Russian, Hungarian, Hebrew, and Arabic exhibit this process.

Omission frequently depends on the tense and use of the copula. For example, in Russian the copula byt is normally omitted in the present tense, but not in the past tense:

• Ona v dome. = She is in the house, literally She in house
• Ona byla v dome. = She was in the house, literally She was in house

The present tense of the copula in Russian was in common use well into the 19th Century (as attested in the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky), but is used now only for archaic effect.

Further restrictions may apply before omission is permitted. For example in the Irish language, is the present tense of the copula may be omitted if the predicate is a noun. Ba the past/conditional cannot be deleted. If the present copula is omitted, the following pronoun é, í, iad preceding the noun is omitted as well.