Breakdown of Arkeologerna hade arbetat länge innan vasen blev rengjord.
ha
to have
innan
before
bli
to become
länge
for a long time
vasen
the vase
arbeta
to work (more formal than jobba)
arkeologen
the archaeologist
rengöra
to clean (an object, make clean)
Questions & Answers about Arkeologerna hade arbetat länge innan vasen blev rengjord.
Why is the past participle rengjord instead of rengjort or rengjorda?
In a dynamic passive sentence using bli, the past participle acts like an adjective and must agree with the subject. Because the subject here is vasen (a singular en-word), the participle takes the en-word form rengjord. If the subject were an ett-word like golvet (the floor), it would be rengjort, and if it were plural like skålarna (the bowls), it would be rengjorda.
Why does arbetat end in -t while rengjord ends in -d if they are both past forms?
They do different jobs in the sentence! The word arbetat is in the supine form, which is used after har or hade to create perfect tenses (hade arbetat). The supine never changes its ending. rengjord, however, is a past participle used with blev. Past participles change their endings to match the subject, just like adjectives do.
Could I use the s-passive here and say innan vasen rengjordes?
How do I know the past participle of rengöra is rengjord?
The verb rengöra is a compound verb made from ren (clean) and göra (to do/make). When a compound verb forms a past participle, it follows the exact same pattern as its root verb. Since the en-word past participle of göra is gjord, rengöra becomes rengjord.
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