A invenção brilhante foi criada pelo engenheiro.
The brilliant invention was created by the engineer.
Breakdown of A invenção brilhante foi criada pelo engenheiro.
ser
to be
por
through / by / for / because of
criar
to create
brilhante
brilliant
o engenheiro
the engineer
a invenção
the invention
Questions & Answers about A invenção brilhante foi criada pelo engenheiro.
Why is the past participle criada instead of criado?
In the passive voice, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject receiving the action. Because a invenção (the invention) is feminine and singular, the participle criado changes to criada.
I learned that foi means "went". Why does it mean "was" in this sentence?
The verbs ir (to go) and ser (to be) share the exact same forms in the simple past tense. Because this is the passive voice, the formula is ser + past participle. Therefore, foi is the past tense of ser, meaning "was", rather than "went".
Why do we use pelo here instead of just por?
In passive sentences, the agent (the person doing the action) is introduced by the preposition por (by). Since engenheiro requires the masculine singular definite article o (the engineer), por and o merge to form the contraction pelo (by the).
Does the adjective brilhante change depending on the gender of the noun?
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