Breakdown of Его достижение в спорте было признано всеми.
в
in
быть
to be
спорт
the sport
все
everyone
достижение
the achievement
его
his
признать
to recognize
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Questions & Answers about Его достижение в спорте было признано всеми.
Why is было признано in the neuter singular form?
In Russian passive constructions the past-tense auxiliary быть agrees with the grammatical subject in number and gender. Here the subject is достижение, a neuter singular noun, so we use было (neuter singular past of быть) plus the neuter singular participle признано.
What exactly is признано?
Признано is the short-form passive past participle of признать (“to recognize” or “to acknowledge”). In combination with an auxiliary (here было) it forms a full past passive voice: “was recognized.”
Why do we need the word было at all?
Было is the past-tense form of the verb быть (“to be”). In Russian you form a past passive by using быть in the past plus a passive participle. Without было you’d lose the explicit past tense, though in some styles the participle alone can imply it.
Could we omit было and just say Его достижение в спорте признано всеми?
Yes. In more formal or headline-like Russian you often drop the auxiliary быть and leave the short passive participle to stand alone. It still reads as “has been recognized by everyone.”
Why is всеми in the instrumental case?
In Russian passive constructions the agent (“by someone”) is expressed in the instrumental case without a preposition. The pronoun все (“everyone”) in instrumental plural becomes всеми, so literally “was recognized by everyone.”
How would you say this in the active voice?
Active: Все признали его достижение в спорте.
Here Все is the subject (“Everyone”), признали is the past tense of признать, and его достижение is the direct object.
Why is его unchanged here? Does it decline for case or gender?
The possessive pronoun его (“his”) is indeclinable in modern Russian. It looks the same in all cases (and for all genders of the noun it modifies), so you always write его.
Why do we say в спорте and not something like the instrumental спортом?
The phrase в спорте uses the preposition в with the prepositional case to mean “in the field of sports.” You use в + prepositional to indicate a general area of activity (e.g. в науке, в искусстве). The instrumental спортом with no preposition would mean “with sports” (e.g. “he holds a stick with sports,” which makes no sense).
Can we talk about multiple achievements instead? How would that change the sentence?
Yes. If you mean “his achievements in sports,” you’d say Его достижения в спорте были признаны всеми. Note that достижения becomes plural, so the auxiliary changes to были and the participle to признаны (plural).
What’s the difference between достижение and успех?
Both can translate as “achievement” or “success,” but:
- Достижение usually points to a specific accomplishment or milestone (“a record,” “a medal,” etc.).
- Успех is more general (“success,” “prosperity,” “good result”) and can be uncountable.
Where is the stress in достижение?
The word достижение is stressed on the second syllable: достижение [dɐˈstʲiʐenʲɪje].