Breakdown of Во время штормовой погоды сирена становится главным ориентиром.
погода
the weather
главный
main
во время
during
становиться
to become (imperfective)
штормовой
stormy
сирена
siren
ориентир
landmark
Questions & Answers about Во время штормовой погоды сирена становится главным ориентиром.
Since this lesson is about defective verbs lacking a 1st-person singular form, where is the defective verb in this sentence?
There actually isn't one! The verb here, становится (from становиться), has a perfectly normal 1st-person form: я становлюсь. However, this verb is essential to learn alongside defective verbs because it provides the most common grammatical "workaround" for them. Because verbs like победить (to win/defeat) lack a 1st-person singular, you use the perfective of this exact verb plus the Instrumental case to express the idea: я стану победителем (I will become the winner), mimicking the exact grammatical structure you see in this sentence.
Why is главным ориентиром in the Instrumental case rather than the Nominative?
The verb становиться (to become) almost always triggers the Instrumental case for the noun or adjective that follows it. In Russian, the Instrumental case is heavily used to indicate a change of state, a temporary condition, or taking on a new role—which is exactly what "becoming" something implies.
The English translation says "landmark", but a siren is a sound. Does ориентир only mean a physical object on the ground?
No, and that's why it's such a useful word! While the English word "landmark" strongly implies a visual physical object, the Russian ориентир (related to the verb ориентироваться, to navigate or orient oneself) refers to any point of reference used for guidance. It can be visual, auditory (like this siren), or even conceptual, like a guiding principle.
Why is штормовой погоды in the Genitive case here?
It is required by the compound preposition во время (during). If you think of во время literally as "in the time [of]", it makes perfect sense why it always triggers the Genitive case (the "of" case) for the noun phrase that follows it. Thus, the Nominative штормовая погода changes to the Genitive штормовой погоды.
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