Breakdown of Zespół nie może być rządzony i manipulowany przez polityków.
być
to be
i
and
nie
no / not
móc
to be able to
polityk
politician
zespół
team / band (music group)
przez
by (agent of a passive verb)
manipulować
to manipulate
rządzić
to rule
Questions & Answers about Zespół nie może być rządzony i manipulowany przez polityków.
Wait, rządzić and manipulować both take the Instrumental case in the active voice. How are they made passive here?
You are exactly right: actively, politicians rule the ensemble (politycy rządzą zespołem - Instrumental). However, when converting transitive verbs that govern the Instrumental case into the passive voice, the object still promotes to the Nominative case to become the new subject (zespół), exactly as Accusative objects do.
Why do the participles rządzony and manipulowany end in -y in this sentence?
These are passive adjectival participles, meaning they act like adjectives and must agree in gender, number, and case with the subject of the sentence. Since zespół is a masculine inanimate noun in the Nominative singular, both participles take the masculine singular Nominative ending -y. They do not match the plural politicians because the politicians are the agents, not the subject.
How do we express who is doing the action in a Polish passive sentence like this?
To say "by someone" in the passive voice, you use the preposition przez followed by the Accusative case. Here, przez polityków shows who is trying to do the ruling. Because polityk is a masculine personal noun, its Accusative plural form looks identical to its Genitive plural (polityków).
I know zespół as a musical band. Can it just mean a regular work team?
Yes, absolutely. While it often translates to a musical ensemble or band, zespół is a very common, broad word for any team, crew, or working group. Depending on the context, this sentence could simply mean "The team cannot be ruled and manipulated by politicians."
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