Breakdown of На странице указаны даты и важные события.
и
and
на
on
важный
important
дата
the date
событие
the event
страница
the page
указать
to indicate
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Questions & Answers about На странице указаны даты и важные события.
Why is странице in the prepositional case rather than the accusative or dative?
Because на странице indicates the location where something exists or happens. The prepositional case is used with the preposition на to express “on” or “in” for static locations (answers “where?”).
What is указаны, and why is it in this form?
Указаны is the short form of the plural passive past participle of the perfective verb указать (“to indicate, to point out”). In this sentence it functions as a passive verb meaning “are listed/are indicated.” The perfective aspect shows that the action (indicating) is viewed as a completed event.
Why are даты and события in the nominative case? Aren’t they objects?
In a passive construction like this, the things that are being indicated (даты, события) take the nominative case because they are the grammatical subjects of the passive verb указаны. In Russian passive sentences, the “object” of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence and stays in the nominative.
There’s no mention of who indicated these dates and events. Is that OK?
Yes. Russian often uses the impersonal passive when the agent (the “who”) is unknown, unimportant, or obvious from context. You simply focus on what is indicated, not on who did it.
Why is the adjective важные in the full (long) form and not the short form?
Attributive adjectives (those that directly modify a noun before it) always use the full form in Russian. Short-form adjectives appear only as predicates (e.g., события важны “the events are important”), not as attributes within a noun phrase.
Could I change the word order to «Даты и важные события указаны на странице»? Would the meaning change?
Yes, you can switch the order to «Даты и важные события указаны на странице.» Russian has relatively free word order, so this is perfectly correct and carries the same meaning. The original order just emphasizes на странице (where they are indicated) by placing it first.
Is указаны exactly the same as перечислены (“are listed”)?
They are very close in meaning: указаны emphasizes that something is pointed out or specified, while перечислены focuses on enumerating or listing items one by one. In many contexts they can be used interchangeably, but перечислены suggests a more systematic listing.