Learn Polish: To, co wczoraj odkryłem, jest szokujące. - What I discovered yesterday is shocking.

To, co wczoraj odkryłem, jest szokujące.

What I discovered yesterday is shocking.

Breakdown of To, co wczoraj odkryłem, jest szokujące.

Questions & Answers about To, co wczoraj odkryłem, jest szokujące.

Why do we use to, co here instead of just translating "what" as co?

In English, you can just say "What I discovered", but Polish usually requires a pointer word before this kind of clause. To acts as that pointer, so the structure is literally "That, which I discovered". While you might hear native speakers drop to in very casual speech, using to, co is the standard, correct way to build these sentences.

Why is the adjective szokujące in the neuter form?

The adjective is describing the abstract concept of "what I discovered". In Polish grammar, when you refer to an entire clause or an unknown thing introduced by the neuter pronoun to, any adjective describing it must also take the neuter singular form (ending in -e).

Szokujące looks like an adjective, but is it actually a verb form?

You are spotting a great pattern! It acts perfectly as an adjective here, but it is an active participle formed from the verb szokować (to shock). The -ące ending is the neuter form of a suffix used to show that something is currently doing the action, working exactly like the English "-ing" in "shocking".

How would this sentence change if a woman were speaking?

Only the verb odkryłem would change. Because it is in the past tense, it must agree with the speaker's gender. A woman would say odkryłam. The rest of the sentence, including the neuter adjective szokujące, stays exactly the same because the adjective describes the discovery, not the speaker.