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La capilla fue reconstruida por mi abuelo.

La capilla fue reconstruida por mi abuelo.
The chapel was rebuilt by my grandfather.
From Lesson 265:Passive events vs. resulting states (ser / estar)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about La capilla fue reconstruida por mi abuelo.

Why use fue (from ser) instead of a form of estar here?
This sentence uses the true passive voice to describe an action, not just a state. Because we are talking about the event of the chapel being rebuilt by someone, we use ser (fue). If we just wanted to describe the resulting state ("the chapel was already rebuilt"), we would use estar instead.
Why does reconstruida end in -a?
In passive sentences using ser, the past participle (reconstruido) must match the subject in gender and number. Since la capilla is feminine and singular, the participle changes to reconstruida.
How do we know to use por for "by" instead of another preposition?
Whenever you use the passive voice and want to introduce the person or thing that actually performed the action (called the "agent"), you must use por.
Why is fue in the preterite tense rather than the imperfect (era)?
Using the preterite fue shows that the rebuilding was a completed, one-time event in the past. If you used the imperfect era reconstruida, it would change the meaning to "was being rebuilt" or "used to be rebuilt."

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