Breakdown of Одежда обычно шьётся на фабрике.
обычно
usually
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
одежда
clothes / clothing
фабрика
factory (light industry)
Questions & Answers about Одежда обычно шьётся на фабрике.
Why do we use шьётся here instead of a passive participle to mean "are sewn"?
Because the action happens regularly (обычно), we need an imperfective verb. In Russian, the passive voice for ongoing or repeated actions is formed by adding -ся to the third-person imperfective verb. So шьёт (sews) becomes шьётся (is sewn).
"Clothes" is plural in English, so why is the verb шьётся in the singular form?
In Russian, одежда is a singular noun functioning as a collective term for clothing. Because the subject is singular, the verb must also be in the third-person singular form.
How is шьётся formed from the dictionary verb шить?
The verb шить (to sew) has a stem change that includes a soft sign: я шью, ты шьёшь, он/она/оно шьёт. To make it passive, we simply attach the reflexive ending -ся to the third-person form, resulting in шьётся.
Why do we say на фабрике instead of в фабрике for "at the factory"?
Certain workplaces and institutions traditionally take the preposition на rather than в to indicate location. Just like на работе (at work) and на почте (at the post office), a factory always requires на.