Breakdown of Чертёж, забытый этим инженером, лежал на столе.
стол
table / desk
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
лежать
to lie, be lying down
инженер
engineer
забыть
to forget (perfective)
чертёж
blueprint
Questions & Answers about Чертёж, забытый этим инженером, лежал на столе.
How would you write this sentence using a который clause instead of the participle?
You would expand the participle phrase into который забыл этот инженер (which this engineer forgot). The full sentence becomes: Чертёж, который забыл этот инженер, лежал на столе. Notice how the agent in the instrumental case (этим инженером) becomes the subject in the nominative case (этот инженер) when you switch back to an active который clause.
Why does забытый have the -ый ending here?
Забытый is a past passive participle formed from the perfective verb забыть (to forget). Since it directly modifies the masculine noun чертёж in the nominative case, the participle must also take the masculine nominative ending -ый to agree with it.
Why is этим инженером in the instrumental case?
In Russian passive constructions, including passive participle phrases like this one, the agent (the person who actually performs the action) is placed in the instrumental case. Since the engineer is the one who did the forgetting, этот инженер becomes этим инженером.
Why is the main verb лежал imperfective when the participle забытый is formed from a perfective verb?
The two words describe actions with completely different natures. The act of forgetting was a single, completed event in the past, so the participle забытый is perfective. However, the blueprint lying on the table is an ongoing state or continuous position in the background, which requires the imperfective verb лежал.
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