Breakdown of Recenzja została napisana przez znanego krytyka.
znany
known
napisać
to write (perfective)
zostać
to be (passive auxiliary)
przez
by (agent of a passive verb)
recenzja
the review
krytyk
the critic
Questions & Answers about Recenzja została napisana przez znanego krytyka.
Why do we use przez in this sentence to mean "by"?
In Polish passive sentences, the preposition przez is used to introduce the "agent" — the person or thing performing the action. It is always followed by the Accusative case.
znanego krytyka looks like the Genitive case. Why are we using it after przez?
You are right that it looks like the Genitive, but it is actually the Accusative case! For masculine personal nouns like krytyk (critic), the Accusative form is identical to the Genitive form. Since przez requires the Accusative, the phrase takes the -ego and -a endings.
Why does the sentence use została instead of była for "was"?
Polish uses the verb zostać (to become) instead of być (to be) to form the passive voice for completed actions. Because the review was finished, we use the perfective verb napisać alongside została. If we wanted to say it "was being written" (an ongoing action), we would use była pisana.
Why does the word for "written" take the form napisana instead of napisany?
In the passive voice, the participle (napisany) acts like an adjective and must match the subject in gender and number. Since the subject recenzja (review) is feminine singular, the participle changes to its feminine form, napisana.
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