Breakdown of Ta nowa instytucja jest administrowana przez stary teatr.
być
to be
ten
this (m)
nowy
new
stary
old
teatr
the theatre
przez
by (agent of a passive verb)
instytucja
institution
administrować
to administer
Questions & Answers about Ta nowa instytucja jest administrowana przez stary teatr.
Since the active verb administrować takes the Instrumental case, why is instytucja in the Nominative case here?
This is a key feature of the passive voice! Even though in the active voice you would say administrować tą nową instytucją (Instrumental), when you make the sentence passive, the object receiving the action becomes the subject. As the subject of the sentence, it must take the Nominative case, becoming ta nowa instytucja.
How exactly do we form the passive participle administrowana from administrować?
For verbs ending in -ować, you drop the final -ć and add the passive endings -ny, -na, or -ne. Because instytucja is a feminine noun, we need the feminine ending -na, which gives us the form administrowana.
Since the verb is related to the Instrumental case, why do we use przez to say "by the old theatre"?
In Polish, the agent of a passive sentence—the one actually doing the action—is almost always introduced by the preposition przez followed by the Accusative case. This rule applies no matter what case the verb governs in its active form. Here, stary teatr is in the Accusative (which happens to look identical to the Nominative because it's an inanimate masculine noun).
Is administrować the most common verb for "to manage" or "to administer" in Polish?
Administrować is a bit formal and typically used for public institutions, property management, or IT systems. At the B2 level, it's highly useful to also know zarządzać (to manage) and kierować (to direct). Both of these are very common, and just like administrować, they take the Instrumental case in the active voice and form the passive voice in exactly the same way!
Learn Ta nowa instytucja jest administrowana przez stary teatr and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free