Breakdown of Этот уникальный купол — памятник, охраняемый государством.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
памятник
monument
уникальный
unique
государство
the state
охранять
to protect
купол
dome
Questions & Answers about Этот уникальный купол — памятник, охраняемый государством.
If I wanted to rewrite охраняемый государством using a который clause, how would it look?
You could write который охраняется государством (which is protected by the state) or который охраняет государство (which the state protects). The present passive participle охраняемый is simply a more formal, condensed way to express this exact same idea.
Why does this sentence use the present passive participle (охраняемый) instead of a past passive participle?
We use the present passive participle because the action is ongoing: the monument is currently being protected. It is formed from the imperfective verb охранять (to protect). Past passive participles are formed from perfective verbs and describe completed actions, which doesn't fit an ongoing, permanent status.
Why is the word for "state" in the instrumental case (государством)?
In passive constructions—including passive participle phrases—the "doer" of the action (the agent) is always put in the instrumental case. Because the state is the entity doing the protecting, государство becomes государством (by the state).
Why is there a dash before памятник and a comma before охраняемый?
The dash acts as the present-tense "is", linking the subject (купол) to the predicate noun (памятник). The comma is strictly required because the participle phrase (охраняемый государством) comes after the noun it modifies. If you placed the phrase before the noun (охраняемый государством памятник), the comma would be dropped.
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