Questions & Answers about Wczoraj zablokowano moje konto.
Why does the verb zablokowano end in -no instead of a regular past tense ending?
The -no ending creates an impersonal past tense. It shows that an action happened in the past, but it intentionally does not specify who did it. While we translate it to English as the passive phrase "was blocked," the Polish form implies "an unknown someone blocked."
Is moje konto the subject of the sentence here, just like "my account" is in English?
No, and this is a very important difference! Even though the English translation uses the passive voice, the Polish -no / -to construction is grammatically active. That means moje konto is actually the direct object and is in the accusative case. Because konto is a neuter noun, its accusative form just happens to look exactly identical to its basic dictionary form.
Could I use the regular Polish passive voice here instead?
Yes, you could say wczoraj moje konto zostało zablokowane, which also means your account was blocked. However, impersonal forms ending in -no or -to are incredibly common in Polish for system notifications, official announcements, and formal narratives where the person performing the action does not matter at all.
How do I know whether to use the -no or -to suffix for this impersonal tense?
It depends on the verb's infinitive ending. Verbs ending in -ać, -eć, or -ić (like zablokować or robić) take the -no suffix. Verbs ending in -nąć, -yć, or -uć (like zamknąć or umyć) generally take the -to suffix instead.
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