Breakdown of Вся организация представляет собой сложную систему.
сложный
difficult, complex
себя
oneself (себе: Dat/Prep)
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone
система
system
Questions & Answers about Вся организация представляет собой сложную систему.
Why does this sentence use представляет собой instead of является to mean "is" or "represents"?
While both are used in formal contexts to define what something is, представлять собой implies that the subject "constitutes" or "takes the form of" something inherently. It is often used when describing the internal structure, appearance, or essence of a thing, such as an organization forming a complex system. Являться acts more like a simple formal equals sign.
Why is сложную систему in the Accusative case? I am used to formal definition verbs like являться taking the Instrumental case.
This is the most important grammar rule to remember for this phrase! Because представлять is a standard transitive verb (meaning "to present"), its direct object must be in the Accusative case. The phrase literally translates to "presents [Accusative object] by means of itself". The Instrumental case slot is already filled by the word собой.
What exactly is собой doing here? Can I just drop it and say организация представляет сложную систему?
You cannot drop собой here. Without it, представлять means "to represent" in the sense of acting on behalf of someone (like a lawyer representing a client) or "to imagine". Adding the Instrumental reflexive pronoun собой (literally "by itself") is required to create the meaning of "constitutes" or "is in and of itself".
Why is Вся used here instead of Целая for "The entire"?