Breakdown of To, co ujawnili, bardzo mnie zaskoczyło.
to
this
ja
I
bardzo
very
co
what
ujawnić
to reveal
zaskoczyć
to surprise
Questions & Answers about To, co ujawnili, bardzo mnie zaskoczyło.
Why do we use to, co instead of just co to mean "what"?
In English, "what" can introduce a clause like this all by itself. In Polish, you need a "pointer" word in the main clause. The neuter pronoun to acts as the subject of zaskoczyło ("that surprised me"), while co connects it to the relative clause. Literally, the sentence says: "That, which they revealed, surprised me."
Why is the verb zaskoczyło in the neuter singular form?
Why do we use mnie here instead of mi?
The verb zaskoczyć (to surprise) takes a direct object in the accusative case (who did it surprise?). Mnie is the accusative form of ja (me). You would use the dative form mi for indirect objects, like with verbs meaning "to give" or "to tell".
What does the ending of ujawnili tell us about who revealed the information?
The -li ending is the past tense for "they" in the masculine personal (virile) form. This means the group of people who revealed the information includes at least one man. If it were a group of only women, children, or non-human nouns, it would be ujawniły.
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