Переговорная была занята, в то время как опенспейс был свободен.

The meeting room was busy, whereas the open-plan workspace was free.

Breakdown of Переговорная была занята, в то время как опенспейс был свободен.

• быть: to be
• свободный: free
• занятый: busy
• переговорная: the meeting room

Questions & Answers about Переговорная была занята, в то время как опенспейс был свободен.

What exactly does переговорная mean, and why is it just one word?

Переговорная is a very common office word meaning meeting room or conference room.

Grammatically, it comes from the fuller phrase переговорная комната (meeting room), but in real usage комната is often dropped because it is obvious from context. So:

• переговорная комната = full form
• переговорная = normal shortened form

This kind of shortening is common in Russian.

Why is переговорная feminine?

It is feminine because the implied full noun is комната, which is feminine.

Even when Russian speakers shorten переговорная комната to just переговорная, the word still behaves like a feminine noun. That is why you get feminine agreement:

• переговорная была занята

Both была and занята are feminine singular.

Why does the sentence use была and был if Russian often leaves out to be?