W biurze nikogo już nie było, więc niczego nie mogłam już załatwić.

Because w means in here, and when Polish uses w for location, it normally takes the locative case.

• dictionary form: biuro = office
• locative: w biurze = in the office

Compare:

• Jestem w biurze. = I am in the office.
• Idę do biura. = I am going to the office.

So this sentence starts by giving the location: In the office...

Nikogo is the genitive form of nikt.

• nikt = no one / nobody
• nikogo = of no one / no one, in contexts where genitive is required

In Polish, after negation and in existential expressions like there was no one, Polish often uses the genitive, not the nominative.

So:

• nikogo nie było = there was no one / nobody was there

A native English speaker may expect something like nikt nie był, but Polish very often prefers nikogo nie było in this kind of there was / there were sentence.

Yes, but Polish uses negative concord, which means multiple negative words normally appear together in the same clause.

So Polish says:

• nikogo nie było = literally something like nobody not was, but naturally: there was nobody
• niczego nie mogłam załatwić = I couldn't get anything done

In standard Polish, you usually must have both:

• a negative pronoun like nikogo, niczego, nigdy, nigdzie
• and a negative verb with nie

This is different from standard English, where two negatives often cancel each other out.

Because było is the normal form in this kind of existential construction.

Here, nikogo is not a nominative subject. It is in the genitive, so the verb does not agree with it as if it were a regular subject. Instead, Polish uses the default past-tense form było.

So:

• nikogo nie było = there was nobody
• nie było czasu = there was no time
• nie było problemu = there was no problem

This is very common and very natural in Polish.

That version is possible in some contexts, but it does not sound quite the same.

• nikogo nie było w biurze is the usual existential way to say there was no one in the office
• nikt nie był w biurze sounds more like no one was in the office as a statement about people, often with slightly more focus on the people themselves

In this sentence, the speaker is describing the situation in the office as a place, so W biurze nikogo już nie było is the most natural phrasing.

Mogłam is the past-tense form of móc = can / be able to, and it tells us two things:

1. person: first person singular = I
2. gender: feminine speaker

So:

• mogłam = I could / I was able to (said by a woman)
• mogłem = I could / I was able to (said by a man)

This is why Polish does not need the pronoun ja here. The verb already tells us I, and the ending also tells us the speaker is female.

Niczego is the genitive form of nic.

• nic = nothing
• niczego = genitive form used in many negative contexts

Because the clause is negative (nie mogłam), Polish often uses the genitive for the thing affected:

• niczego nie mogłam załatwić

This is very standard. You may also hear:

• nic nie mogłam załatwić

in everyday speech. That is also common. But niczego fits the traditional case pattern after negation very neatly.

Because załatwić focuses on successfully completing or getting something sorted out.

Polish aspect matters a lot here:

• załatwić = perfective, to get something done / settled
• załatwiać = imperfective, to be dealing with something / to handle something in an ongoing way

In this sentence, the meaning is not just I couldn't be doing things. It is more like:

• I couldn't get anything taken care of
• I couldn't settle anything
• I couldn't get anything done

That idea of reaching a result matches the perfective załatwić.

Because the two instances of już modify different parts of the sentence.

1. nikogo już nie było
   = there was no one there anymore / any longer

2. nie mogłam już załatwić
   = I could no longer get anything done

In negative contexts, już often means anymore, any longer, or no longer, not just already.

So here the first już says the office had already emptied out, and the second says that because of that, the speaker could no longer handle the matter.

English would often avoid repeating anymore, but in Polish the repetition is normal.

Więc means so, therefore, or thus. It introduces the result of the first clause.

• W biurze nikogo już nie było = There was no one left in the office
• więc niczego nie mogłam już załatwić = so I couldn't get anything done anymore

The comma is standard because więc connects two clauses.

Yes, Polish word order is fairly flexible, but different orders can sound more or less natural or shift the emphasis.

The original order is very natural:

• W biurze nikogo już nie było, więc niczego nie mogłam już załatwić.

It starts with the setting in the office, then states the situation, then gives the consequence.

Other versions are possible, for example:

• Nikogo już nie było w biurze, więc już niczego nie mogłam załatwić.

This still works, but the emphasis changes slightly. The original sounds smoother if you want to begin with the location.

So the order is not random: it helps organize the information in a natural way.