Middle voice for inanimate subjects (się)

Evaluating Products with się

When writing a review, you often describe how an item behaves when you use it. In English, you might say "This shirt washes well" or "The keyboard cleans easily." The object itself isn't doing the washing or cleaning—it is undergoing the action. This is known as the middle voice.

In Polish, you express this using an impersonal się construction. To build this structure:

• Place the item being evaluated at the beginning of the sentence in the Accusative case (it is the direct object of the action, even if it feels like the subject in English).
• Use the third-person singular form of the verb.
• Add the reflexive pronoun się.
• Follow up with an adverb like szybko (quickly) or intuicyjnie (intuitively) to describe the experience.

Notice that for masculine inanimate nouns like odkurzacz (vacuum cleaner), the Accusative case looks identical to the Nominative. Grammatically, however, the sentence functions like "One uses this vacuum cleaner intuitively."

Because this is an impersonal construction, the verb must always be in the third-person singular. The verb form will not change, even if you are evaluating multiple items.

Spotting the Accusative Case

When the product you are evaluating is feminine, the Accusative case becomes very obvious, with the noun and its adjectives taking their typical -ę endings. This confirms that the item is the receiver of the action, not the subject.

You can apply this structure to almost any product and the verb associated with its use, such as aplikować (to apply) for cosmetics and medicines, or prać (to wash) for clothing.