Breakdown of La strada è rimasta bloccata dalle macerie della frana.
essere
to be
la strada
the street
di
of, from
bloccato
blocked, stuck
Questions & Answers about La strada è rimasta bloccata dalle macerie della frana.
Why do we use è rimasta bloccata here instead of the standard passive è stata bloccata?
Using rimanere as the auxiliary verb creates a resultative passive. It emphasizes the lasting state or consequence of the event (the street ended up blocked and stayed that way), rather than the action of the landslide blocking it. If we used è stata bloccata, it would focus more on the momentary action of the street being blocked.
Both rimasta and bloccata end in -a. Why do they both agree with la strada?
Because rimanere takes the auxiliary essere in compound tenses, its past participle must agree with the feminine singular subject, becoming rimasta. The second participle (bloccata) describes the resulting state of that same subject, acting like an adjective, so it must also take the feminine singular ending.
Why is the cause of the blockage introduced by dalle (by the) if the rubble isn't a person doing an action?
The English translation says 'the rubble', which is singular. Why is macerie plural?