When natural forces or mysterious freak accidents damage your property, Polish often avoids blaming a specific subject. Instead of saying "The wind blew off the roof," Polish simply says "It blew off the roof."
To build this structure, use a verb in the 3rd-person singular neuter past tense (ending in -ło).
The Dative Experiencer
To express whose property was damaged or taken, add a pronoun in the Dative case (the "to/for whom" case). The physical object that gets damaged or moved stays in the Accusative case (the direct object).
- zerwało (it tore off)
- nam (to us)
- dach (the roof)
| At night it tore our roof off because of the hurricane. | W nocy zerwało nam dach z powodu huraganu. |
| We were at the beach and suddenly it blew his hat away. | Byliśmy na plaży i nagle zwiało mu kapelusz. |
This impersonal structure is highly productive for all kinds of sudden disasters, extreme weather events, and property damage where no human is at fault.
| Snow fell all day and it buried their car. | Śnieg padał przez cały dzień i zasypało im samochód. |
| During the flood the river was so strong that it swept my dog away! | Podczas powodzi rzeka była tak silna, że porwało mi psa! |
Explicit Subjects vs. Impersonal Events
You aren't forced to use this impersonal structure. If you want to point a finger at the specific natural force responsible, you can use a normal sentence with the natural force (like the storm, hail, or lightning) as the subject. The verb will simply agree with that noun's gender and number.
| Yesterday large hail fell and destroyed our vegetables in the garden. | Wczoraj padał duży grad i zniszczył nam warzywa w ogrodzie. |
However, if the focus is on the sheer, sudden impact of the event rather than the source, the impersonal neuter form remains the most natural choice.
| As a result of the hurricane, it smashed all our windows on the balcony. | Na skutek huraganu wybiło nam wszystkie okna na balkonie. |
The Accusative Experiencer
Usually, nature damages your belongings, so you stand by as a Dative experiencer. But if a natural force physically strikes a person, that person becomes the direct receiver of the action. In this case, use an Accusative pronoun instead of a Dative one.
| Suddenly it hit him in the head. | Nagle uderzyło go w głowę. |