Breakdown of Este dovedit faptul că fenomenul global este greu de înțeles.
fi
to be (sunt, ești, este, suntem, sunteți, sunt)
înțelege
to understand
greu
heavy / difficult
că
that (conjunction)
Questions & Answers about Este dovedit faptul că fenomenul global este greu de înțeles.
Why does the sentence use faptul că instead of just că?
In formal impersonal passive constructions, faptul că (the fact that) acts as a clear grammatical subject for the verb este dovedit. You can absolutely say Este dovedit că..., which is slightly less formal but means the exact same thing. Adding faptul just gives the passive verb a concrete noun to attach to, a style very common in academic or formal Romanian.
Since there is no person doing the action, what gender is the past participle dovedit in?
It is in the default masculine/neuter singular form. Whenever a whole clause (like the one introduced by că or faptul că) acts as the subject of an impersonal passive verb, the past participle must take this default, uninflected form.
Why does the sentence use greu de înțeles instead of the infinitive greu a înțelege?
This is the Romanian supine mood in action! While English uses an infinitive to say something is "hard to understand", Romanian requires the structure adjective + de + supine (which looks exactly like the past participle). You will see this constantly with adjectives like ușor (easy), greu (hard), and imposibil (impossible).
Could I use the reflexive passive se dovedește or s-a dovedit here instead of este dovedit?