Wczoraj musiałam pójść do oddziału banku, bo nie mogłam zrobić przelewu przez telefon.

Musiałam is the past tense, feminine singular form of musieć (to have to / must).

So:

• a woman says musiałam
• a man says musiałem

Polish past-tense verbs often agree with the speaker’s gender, which is something English does not do.

Because pójść is the perfective verb, and here it refers to one complete trip to the bank branch.

• iść = imperfective, to be going / to go in a more ongoing or uncompleted sense
• pójść = perfective, to go as a single completed event

So musiałam pójść do oddziału banku means I had to go to the bank branch as a specific one-time action.

If you used iść, it would sound less focused on the completed trip and more on the process or necessity of going.

For the same kind of reason: zrobić is perfective, while robić is imperfective.

Here the sentence is about a single completed bank transfer that the speaker was unable to make. Polish usually prefers the perfective verb for that kind of one-time result:

• zrobić przelew = to make/complete a transfer
• robić przelew = to be making a transfer, or to do transfers in a more general/repeated sense

So nie mogłam zrobić przelewu means I couldn’t make/complete a transfer.

Both nouns are in the genitive.

1. do always takes the genitive when it means to / into:

   • do oddziału = to the branch

2. banku is also genitive because oddział banku means branch of a bank / bank branch:

   • oddział = branch
   • banku = of the bank

So:

• oddział → nominative
• oddziału → genitive after do
• bank → nominative
• banku → genitive after oddział

Yes, you could say do banku, and it would mean to the bank. But do oddziału banku is more specific: it means to a physical bank branch.

That matters here because the sentence contrasts:

• trying to do a transfer remotely
• having to go in person to a branch

So oddział banku emphasizes the physical branch office, not just the institution in general.

Because Polish often uses the genitive after negation.

Without negation, you would normally have:

• mogłam zrobić przelew = I was able to make a transfer

With negation, the direct object often changes to genitive:

• nie mogłam zrobić przelewu = I couldn’t make a transfer

This is a very common Polish pattern and can feel strange to English speakers, because English does not change the noun after negation in this way.

Yes, both are possible, but they focus on slightly different things.

• zrobić przelew = to make a transfer
  This is a very common, natural expression.

• przelać pieniądze = to transfer money
  This focuses more directly on the money.

There is also:

• wykonać przelew = a bit more formal, often seen in banking language

So in everyday Polish, zrobić przelew is extremely normal.

Przez telefon is a common Polish expression meaning by phone, over the phone, or using the phone.

Literally, przez often means through, so the phrase is something like through the phone, but idiomatically it means by phone.

This is just the normal expression here. English speakers often expect something more like telefonem, but Polish usually says:

• rozmawiać przez telefon = talk on the phone
• załatwić coś przez telefon = handle something by phone
• zrobić przelew przez telefon = make a transfer by phone / on the phone

It can depend on context.

Przez telefon is somewhat broad and can mean using the phone in general. In modern contexts, many people may understand it as doing something on a phone, possibly through banking on the device.

If you want to be more specific, Polish can say:

• telefonicznie = by phone call
• w aplikacji / w aplikacji bankowej = in the app / in the banking app
• na telefonie = on the phone (more colloquial, often meaning on the device)

So przez telefon is natural here, but it is not the most technically precise wording possible.

Bo means because.

In Polish, a comma is normally used before bo when it introduces a subordinate clause:

• ..., bo nie mogłam zrobić przelewu przez telefon.

This is standard punctuation in Polish.

So:

• Wczoraj musiałam pójść do oddziału banku = main clause
• bo nie mogłam zrobić przelewu przez telefon = reason clause

English punctuation is less strict here, so this comma can stand out to learners.

Yes, the word order is natural, but Polish word order is more flexible than English.

This sentence begins with Wczoraj to set the time right away:

• Wczoraj musiałam pójść do oddziału banku...

You could also say:

• Musiałam wczoraj pójść do oddziału banku...

Both are natural, but the emphasis shifts slightly:

• starting with Wczoraj highlights yesterday
• placing wczoraj later makes the sentence sound a bit more neutral in some contexts

Polish often moves words around for emphasis, rhythm, or style, while still keeping the meaning clear through endings and context.

A man would say:

Wczoraj musiałem pójść do oddziału banku, bo nie mogłem zrobić przelewu przez telefon.

The changes are:

• musiałam → musiałem
• mogłam → mogłem

Everything else stays the same.