Breakdown of Okładka została zaprojektowana przez młodego studenta.
młody
young
student
student (m)
zaprojektować
to design
zostać
to be (passive auxiliary)
przez
by (agent of a passive verb)
okładka
the cover
Questions & Answers about Okładka została zaprojektowana przez młodego studenta.
Why do we use została instead of była for "was"?
In the Polish passive voice, we use the auxiliary verb zostać (here, została) with perfective verbs to focus on a completed result. Because zaprojektowana comes from the perfective verb zaprojektować (to successfully finish designing), we use została. If we wanted to say "was being designed" to focus on the ongoing process, we would use była with an imperfective participle.
Is młodego studenta in the Genitive case here?
It looks like it, but it is actually the Accusative case! The preposition przez (used to mean "by" someone in passive sentences) always requires the Accusative. However, because student is a masculine personal noun, its Accusative form is identical to its Genitive form, which is why it becomes młodego studenta.
Why does the word for "designed" end in -a (zaprojektowana)?
In passive sentences, the main verb turns into a passive participle, which behaves exactly like an adjective. This means it must match the subject of the sentence in gender, number, and case. The subject here is okładka (feminine, singular, Nominative), so the participle takes the matching feminine ending -a.
Can I just use the bare Instrumental case to say who designed it, without using przez?
No, you cannot. While the Instrumental case is used for the tools or instruments used to do an action (like writing "with a pen"), Polish strictly uses przez plus the Accusative case to express the human agent or "doer" of a passive action.
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