Breakdown of Отсутствие паспорта — это не уважительная причина.
это
this / it is
не
not
паспорт
passport
причина
reason, cause
уважительный
valid (reason, excuse)
отсутствие
absence
Questions & Answers about Отсутствие паспорта — это не уважительная причина.
Doesn't уважительная normally mean "respectful"?
It does, but in formal and legal Russian, уважительная причина is a set phrase that means a "valid reason" or "legitimate excuse." It is standard bureaucratic vocabulary, which fits perfectly with the formal tone of the objective reasons you are studying in this lesson.
Why use the noun отсутствие rather than just saying that someone doesn't have a passport?
Official Russian relies heavily on nouns rather than verbs to sound formal. Transforming an idea like "someone doesn't have a passport" into the noun phrase отсутствие паспорта (using the genitive case) is a great trick to elevate your speech to the B2 level and sound appropriately bureaucratic.
Why do we need the dash and это in the middle of the sentence?
This is a quick refresher of a foundational rule: when linking two nouns in the nominative case (here, the subject отсутствие and the predicate причина), you use a dash to represent the missing verb "to be." Adding это is highly common here to make the equivalence clear and emphatic.
How does this sentence's vocabulary help build subordinating clauses of objective reason?
While this specific sentence is simple, it introduces the core formal noun причина. In official contexts, you will often use this exact vocabulary to build the complex clauses this lesson covers, such as по той уважительной причине, что... (for the valid reason that...), linking an objective fact to an outcome.
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