Expressing the agent with "przez"
When using the passive voice, you often want to specify who or what performed the action. In English, we use "by" (e.g., "written by the author"). In Polish, use the preposition przez.
| by (agent of a passive verb) | przez |
The preposition przez must always be followed by a noun or pronoun in the Accusative case.
For feminine nouns, the Accusative ending typically changes to -ę:
| This long text was written by my sister. | Ten długi tekst został napisany przez moją siostrę. |
For masculine personal nouns, the Accusative is usually identical to the Genitive, ending in -a:
| This poem was written by a famous author. | Ten wiersz został napisany przez znanego autora. |
For neuter nouns, the Accusative form is identical to the Nominative, so the ending doesn't change:
| The book will be published by this new publishing house. | Książka zostanie opublikowana przez to nowe wydawnictwo. |
Pronouns as agents
Pronouns must also take the Accusative case. To ask "by whom", use przez kogo (the Accusative of kto).
| Do you know who this text was translated by? | Czy wiesz, przez kogo został przetłumaczony ten tekst? |
Similarly, personal pronouns change form. For example, "you" (ty) becomes ciebie:
| The editor asks if the text will be translated by you. | Redaktor pyta, czy tekst zostanie przetłumaczony przez ciebie. |
Adjective agreement
Any adjectives describing the agent must also match its Accusative case:
| The review was written by a well-known critic. | Recenzja została napisana przez znanego krytyka. |
| The critic thinks that this cover was designed by a great artist. | Krytyk myśli, że ta okładka została zaprojektowana przez świetnego artystę. |