Breakdown of В Европе существовали монашеские ордены.
в
in / to (direction)
существовать
to exist
Европа
Europe
орден
medal / order (award)
монашеский
monastic
Questions & Answers about В Европе существовали монашеские ордены.
Why is the plural of орден written as ордены here instead of ордена?
The noun орден has two plural forms with different meanings. Ордена refers to medals or military decorations. Ордены refers to organizations, such as religious, monastic, or knightly groups. Since this sentence is about monks, we use ордены.
Why is the subject монашеские ордены placed at the very end of the sentence?
Russian typically places the newest or most important information at the end of the sentence. Starting with the location (В Европе) and the verb (существовали) sets the scene, building up to the main point: what exactly existed there.
Is there a reason монашеские ends in -ие rather than the standard plural -ые?
Yes, this is a result of the seven-letter spelling rule. You can never write the letter ы after к (nor after г, х, ж, ч, ш, щ). Because of the к in монашеск-, the ending must be spelled with -ие.
Could we use a perfective verb instead of существовали to imply that they existed but later disappeared?
No, verbs denoting continuous states, like existing or being located somewhere, almost always use the imperfective aspect in Russian. The state of existing is viewed as an ongoing fact of the past, regardless of whether those orders eventually died out.
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