Breakdown of Полицейский ищет сбежавшего преступника.
искать
to look for
преступник
criminal
полицейский
the policeman
сбежать
to escape
Questions & Answers about Полицейский ищет сбежавшего преступника.
How is the active past participle сбежавшего formed?
It comes from the perfective verb сбежать (to escape). To form it, we drop the -ть from the infinitive and add the active past suffix -вш-, followed by an adjective ending. In its base nominative form, it is сбежавший (the one who escaped).
Why do both сбежавшего and преступника look like they are in the genitive case?
The verb искать (to look for) takes a direct object in the accusative case here. Because преступник (criminal) is a living person, its masculine singular accusative ending matches the genitive form (-а). The participle сбежавшего declines like an adjective and must exactly match the noun it describes, so it takes the corresponding animate accusative ending -его.
Ищет is the verb for "is looking for", but it looks unusual. What is its infinitive?
The infinitive is искать (to search / to look for). It undergoes a common consonant mutation where -ск- changes to -щ- in all present tense forms, giving us я ищу, он ищет, and so on.
Why does the noun Полицейский have an adjective ending?
Полицейский is an adjectival noun. It functions as a noun representing a person, but it changes its endings exactly like a standard adjective does. For example, if there were multiple policemen, the plural would be полицейские.
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