Breakdown of Dwa rowery zostały pożyczone przez rowerzystę z naszej ulicy.
nasz
our
ulica
the street
z
from
dwa
two
rowerzysta
the cyclist
przez
by
rower
the bike
zostać pożyczony
to be borrowed
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Questions & Answers about Dwa rowery zostały pożyczone przez rowerzystę z naszej ulicy.
What is the structure zostały pożyczone, and how does it form the passive voice in Polish?
It’s a two-part passive construction: the auxiliary zostać in past‐tense plural (zostały) plus the past participle pożyczone. Together they mean “were borrowed,” placing the focus on the bicycles (the grammatical subject).
Why is Dwa rowery in the nominative case here?
In Polish passive sentences, the thing undergoing the action remains the subject and stays in the nominative. So dwa rowery (“two bikes”) is nominative plural because it’s the subject of zostały pożyczone.
Why does the past participle end in -ne as pożyczone, not -ny or -na?
Past participles used in passives agree with the gender and number of the subject. Rowery are masculine inanimate plural. Non-masculine-personal plurals take the ending -e, hence pożyczone.
What role does przez play in przez rowerzystę?
Przez introduces the agent—the person who performs the action—in passive voice. It requires the accusative case, so rowerzysta becomes rowerzystę.
Why is z naszej ulicy in the genitive case?
The preposition z (“from”) governs the genitive. Ulica is feminine, so its genitive singular is ulicy. The possessive pronoun nasza also shifts to the feminine genitive form naszej, giving z naszej ulicy (“from our street”).
Could we use były pożyczone instead of zostały pożyczone, and would the meaning change?
Yes. Były pożyczone (from the auxiliary być) also forms a passive perfect—“were borrowed.” The nuance is slight: zostały often emphasizes the result or completion of an action, while były sounds more neutral or descriptive.
How would you express the same idea in the active voice?
Switch to active:
Rowerzysta z naszej ulicy pożyczył dwa rowery.
Here the cyclist is the subject doing the borrowing, and the bikes become the direct object.
Is the word order in the original sentence flexible?
Polish word order is relatively free. You could reorder for emphasis—e.g. Z naszej ulicy zostały pożyczone dwa rowery przez rowerzystę—but the given order (subject–verb–agent/source) is the most neutral and common.