Breakdown of Новый тираж печатается издательством.
новый
new
печатать
to print
издательство
publishing house
тираж
print run
Questions & Answers about Новый тираж печатается издательством.
How does издательством mean "by the publishing house" when there is no Russian word for "by" in the sentence?
In Russian passive sentences, the agent (the one actually doing the action) is expressed using the Instrumental case with no prepositions. The neuter noun издательство takes the -ом ending in the Instrumental case to become издательством.
Why is there a -ся at the end of печатается?
Adding the reflexive particle -ся to a transitive verb is a common way to form the passive voice in Russian. It changes the active verb печатать (to print) into the passive печатается (is being printed).
Why is Новый тираж in the Nominative case if it's the thing receiving the action?
Because the sentence is in the passive voice. In a passive construction, the logical object (the print run) gets promoted to the grammatical subject of the sentence, which means it must be in the Nominative case.
Could we use a perfective verb with -ся to talk about this print run being finished?
Usually, no. The -ся passive construction is almost entirely used with imperfective verbs to show ongoing or routine actions, like the present-tense action here. To show a completed passive action (perfective), Russian typically uses a short-form participle instead.
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