Заполненный людьми зал был шумным.

The hall filled with people was noisy.

Breakdown of Заполненный людьми зал был шумным.

• быть: to be
• человек: the person
• зал: the hall
• шумный: noisy
• заполненный: full

Questions & Answers about Заполненный людьми зал был шумным.

What is заполненный exactly? Is it an adjective or a verb?

Заполненный is a passive past participle formed from the verb заполнить (to fill up).

• It behaves like an adjective here, describing зал (hall): заполненный зал = a hall that has been filled.
• As a participle, it keeps a verbal meaning: зал, который (был) заполнен = the hall that (was) filled / that has been filled.

So grammatically it’s a long-form passive participle used as an attributive adjective.

Why is людьми in the instrumental case and not людей in the genitive?

Людьми is instrumental plural of люди.

There are two ideas mixed in English:

• full of people (genitive in Russian: полный людей)
• filled by people (instrumental in Russian: заполненный людьми)

With passive constructions and passive participles, Russian normally uses instrumental to mark the agent (by whom something is done):

• зал заполнен людьми = the hall is filled by people (instrumental: кем? чем? — людьми)

So заполненный людьми literally means filled by people, which is why людьми is in the instrumental.

Why is it зал был шумным, not зал был шумный?

Both are grammatically possible, but they are not identical in nuance.

• зал был шумным – predicate adjective in the instrumental.
  Often used for a state, condition, or resulting situation, especially with был / стал / оказался, etc. It sounds very natural here.
• зал был шумный – predicate in nominative.
  Sounds a bit more like a description / characteristic, sometimes more neutral or “definitional.”

In this sentence, зал был шумным fits the idea “the hall was (in a noisy state at that time)”, so instrumental is preferred.

Why does заполненный end with -ый and not the short form заполнен?

Russian participles and adjectives have:

• Long form: заполненный, уставший, умытый
• Short form: заполнен, уставш, умыта (etc.)

Use:

• Long form before a noun, as an attribute:
  
  • заполненный людьми зал – the hall (that is) filled with people
• Short form in the predicate, after быть (or implied быть):
  
  • зал (был) заполнен людьми – the hall was filled with people

Here, заполненный modifies зал directly, so the long form is required.

Could the word order be Зал, заполненный людьми, был шумным instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, that’s possible, but there is a nuance:

1. Заполненный людьми зал был шумным.

   • The participial phrase is preposed (before the noun) and not set off by commas.
   • It functions more like a defining attribute, almost like part of the name: the people-filled hall.
   • The focus is more on зал, with заполненный людьми tightly attached to it.

2. Зал, заполненный людьми, был шумным.

   • The participial phrase follows the noun and is set off by commas.
   • It feels more like an additional description: The hall, which was filled with people, was noisy.
   • Stylistically a bit more “sentence-like” and explanatory.

Both are correct; the original is a bit more compact and adjective-like.

Why are there no commas around заполненный людьми in the original sentence?

Because in Russian:

• A participial phrase after the noun is usually set off by commas:
  
  • Зал, заполненный людьми, был шумным.
• A participial phrase before the noun is usually not set off by commas if it is restrictive/defining and closely attached:
  
  • Заполненный людьми зал был шумным.

Here заполненный людьми comes before зал and tightly defines what kind of hall it is, so no commas are used.

What tense or aspect does заполненный express? Does it mean “being filled” or “already filled”?

Заполненный comes from the perfective verb заполнить, so it is a past passive participle of a completed action.

• It describes something that has already been filled (result of an action), not the process of filling.
• So it means “a hall that has been filled with people”, i.e., it is already full.

If you wanted a “process” idea (being filled), you’d use an imperfective participle:
заполняемый людьми зал – a hall being filled by people (rare and bookish in everyday speech).

Why is заполненный masculine singular nominative? What is it agreeing with?

In Russian, adjectives and participles agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here:

• зал – masculine, singular, nominative
• So the participle must also be masculine, singular, nominative: заполненный.

That’s why it’s заполненный (masc. sg. nom.), not заполненная (fem.) or заполненные (plural).

Why does заполненный have нн, not a single н?

Spelling rule: participles and adjectives formed from verbs with suffixes like -ова-, -ева-, -и-, -ирова-, etc. usually take -нн-.

• Verb: заполнить
• Past passive participle: заполненный

So you get заполненный with нн.
The short form drops one н: зал заполнен людьми.

Can I say Заполненный людьми зал шумный without был?

In standard, neutral written Russian, you normally keep был in the past tense:

• Заполненный людьми зал был шумным.

Omitting был is possible in some headline, note, or very colloquial styles, but it sounds either:

• telegraphic (like a newspaper headline), or
• somewhat unfinished in normal prose.

For a learner and for regular sentences, it’s better to use the full form with был.