Word
Das historische Gebäude wurde durch das Erdbeben zerstört.
Meaning
The historical building was destroyed by the earthquake.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Das historische Gebäude wurde durch das Erdbeben zerstört.
das Gebäude
the building
historisch
historical
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
durch
through
Questions & Answers about Das historische Gebäude wurde durch das Erdbeben zerstört.
Why do we use durch instead of von to mean 'by' in this sentence?
In passive sentences, von is used for conscious, active agents (like people, groups, or animals). Meanwhile, durch is used for instruments, causes, or natural forces. Because an earthquake (das Erdbeben) is a natural force without conscious intent, we use durch.
What case does durch trigger here?
The preposition durch always requires the accusative case. Because Erdbeben is a neuter noun, its accusative article is das, which happens to look exactly the same as it does in the nominative.
Why does the adjective historische end in just an -e?
Gebäude is a neuter noun in the nominative case, acting as the subject of the sentence. Since it comes right after the definite article das, the adjective takes the weak ending. For nominative singular nouns, that ending is simply -e.
Why is the auxiliary verb wurde used here instead of war?
We use wurde (the simple past of werden) together with the past participle zerstört to form the standard action passive. This focuses on the actual event of the building being destroyed. If you used war, it would form the state passive, describing the aftermath: the building 'was in a destroyed state'.