All rational parametric curves with prescribed polynomial tangent direction form a vector space. Via tangent directions with rational norm, this includes the important case of rational Pythagorean hodograph curves. We study vector subspaces defined by fixing the denominator polynomial and describe the construction of canonical bases for them. We also show (as an analogy to the fraction decomposition of rational functions) that any element of the vector space can be obtained as a finite sum of curves with single roots at the denominator. Our results give insight into the structure of these spaces, clarify the role of their polynomial and truly rational (non-polynomial) curves, and suggest applications to interpolation problems.