Breakdown of Библиотека была построена в 1950 году и несколько раз ремонтировалась.
в
in
быть
to be
и
and
год
the year
Questions & Answers about Библиотека была построена в 1950 году и несколько раз ремонтировалась.
What is the structure была построена and why is it used instead of a direct verb like построили?
была построена is a past passive construction formed by the auxiliary verb быть in the past tense plus the past passive participle of построить. We use it to put библиотека as the focus (“the library was built”) without naming who built it. If you said построили, you’d need a subject (for example, их построили – “they built it”).
How is the past passive participle построена formed, and why does it end in -ена?
The full passive participle of построить is построенный/построенная/…, but in short form you drop -ый/-ая and get построен/построена/построено/построены. Since библиотека is feminine singular, we use построена.
Why do we say в 1950 году and why is год in the prepositional case?
To indicate when something happened, Russian uses в + prepositional case for years: в 1950 году = “in the year 1950.” In colloquial speech you might also hear в 1950-м, but the full form uses году.
Why isn’t there a comma before и in this sentence?