Breakdown of Этот термин описывает процесс, изучаемый учёными.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
изучать
to study
учёный
scientist, scholar
процесс
process
термин
term
описывать
to describe
Questions & Answers about Этот термин описывает процесс, изучаемый учёными.
How do we form the present passive participle изучаемый?
It is made from the imperfective verb изучать (to study). To form it, take the first-person plural present tense form (изучаем - we study) and add the regular masculine adjective ending -ый. It translates to "which is being studied".
What case is изучаемый in, and why does it end in -ый?
It is in the accusative case. Participles act like adjectives and must agree with the noun they modify. Here, it describes процесс, which is the direct object of the verb описывает (describes), making it accusative. Because процесс is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative form looks identical to the nominative, so the participle takes the inanimate ending -ый.
Why is the word for scientists (учёными) in the instrumental case here?
When using passive constructions, the "doer" of the action (the agent) is always expressed in the instrumental case. Since the scientists are the ones doing the studying, the nominative plural учёные becomes the instrumental plural учёными (by scientists).
Why is there a comma right before изучаемый?
In Russian, when a participial phrase like изучаемый учёными comes immediately after the noun it describes (процесс), it must be set off by a comma. If we flipped the word order so the phrase came before the noun (...описывает изучаемый учёными процесс), we would drop the comma.
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