Breakdown of Przeszliśmy przez ciemny korytarz niezauważeni przez strażnika.
ciemny
dark
korytarz
corridor
przejść
to cross
strażnik
guard
przez
by (agent of a passive verb)
niezauważony
unnoticed
Questions & Answers about Przeszliśmy przez ciemny korytarz niezauważeni przez strażnika.
How is the word niezauważeni formed here, and why does it end in -eni?
Niezauważeni (unnoticed) is made by adding the negative prefix nie- to zauważony, the passive participle of the perfective verb zauważyć (to notice). It acts like an adjective describing a state or potentiality. It ends in -eni because it is in the nominative, virile (masculine personal) plural form, agreeing with the hidden subject 'we' in przeszliśmy.
Why does niezauważeni take the nominative case here instead of being an adverb?
In English, 'unnoticed' can feel like an adverb describing how we passed, but in Polish, it is treated as an adjective of state describing the people themselves. Because it describes the subject of the sentence ('we'), it must match the subject's case, which is nominative. If the subject were a group of women, it would be niezauważone.
The word przez appears twice in this sentence. Do both instances mean the same thing?
No, they serve two different grammatical functions, though both require the following noun to be in the accusative case. The first przez (przez ciemny korytarz) means 'through' and indicates physical movement. The second przez (przez strażnika) means 'by' and introduces the agent of the passive action, telling us who failed to notice them.
Since the second przez introduces the agent of a passive action, why isn't the guard in the instrumental case?
Even when przez is used to mean 'by' for passive actions, the preposition itself still strictly requires the accusative case. Because strażnik (guard) is a masculine animate noun, its accusative form looks exactly like its genitive form, resulting in strażnika. You never use the bare instrumental case when introducing an agent with przez.
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