Learn Hardcore Polish: Nasz parking został całkowicie odnowiony w zeszłym roku. - Our parking lot was completely renovated last year.

In Polish, został is an auxiliary verb used to form the passive voice in the past tense. Here it combines with the past passive participle odnowiony to mean “was renovated/refurbished.” Without został, you’d need an active construction (“we renovated…”).

Why is the participle odnowiony ending in -y?

Past passive participles agree in gender and number with the subject. Parking is a masculine singular noun, so its participle takes the masculine singular ending -y (odnowion-y). If the subject were feminine, it would be odnowiona, neuter odnowione, etc.

What is the infinitive form of odnowiony, and how do you form its past passive participle?

The base verb is odnowić (to renew/renovate). To form the past passive participle for masculine singular, you drop -ić and add -iony, giving odnowiony. For other genders and numbers you adjust the ending (-iona, ‑ione, ‑ieni, etc.).

Why is parking treated as a masculine noun in Polish?

Although parking is an English loanword, Polish assigns it masculine gender (inanimate). It follows the regular declension pattern for most masculine nouns (e.g. genitive parkingu, dative parkingowi, etc.). Its gender determines agreement with participles and adjectives.

What case is used in w zeszłym roku, and why?

Time expressions introduced by w take the locative case. Rok (year) becomes roku in the locative, and its adjective zeszły (last) changes to zeszłym. Hence w zeszłym roku means “in last year” → “last year.”

Why is the adverb całkowicie placed before odnowiony? Could it appear elsewhere?

Adverbs of degree like całkowicie (“completely”) typically precede the adjective or participle they modify. Here it qualifies odnowiony. You could also say został odnowiony całkowicie, but it’s more natural before the participle.

How would you express this idea in the active voice?

In the active voice you’d mention the doer (implied here as “we”):
• Odnowiliśmy nasz parking całkowicie w zeszłym roku.
• Or reorder: W zeszłym roku całkowicie odnowiliśmy nasz parking.

Is there a nuance between odnowić, odświeżyć, and wyremontować?

Yes.
• odnowić – to renew or refurbish, a general term.
• odświeżyć – literally “freshen up,” implying a lighter renovation (e.g. painting walls).
• wyremontować – to renovate thoroughly or rebuild parts (e.g. heavy repairs).