134 Małgorzata Krzek
(9) a. Próbowano zrozumieć ten problem.
tried understand.inf this.acc problem.acc
‘[People/They] tried to understand this problem.
b. Chciało się odkryć prawdę
want.past.3sg.n się discover.inf truth.acc
ale wszyscy wiedzieli że
but everybody knew that
to niemożliwe w obecnej sytuacji.
it impossible in current situation.
‘[One/People/They/We] wanted to discover the truth but everybody
knew it was impossible in the current situation.’
(10) a. Przygotowując przedstawienie, zapomniano
prepare.ptcpPRES performance.acc forgot
o kostiumach.
about costumes.loc
‘In preparing the performance, [one/people/they] forgot about cos-
tumes.’
b. Wychodząc z domu, zamykało się
leave.ptcpPRES from house.gen close.past 3 sg.n się
drzwi na klucz.
door on key
‘On leaving the house, [one/they/we] locked the door.’
(11) a. Zaczęto wyglądać bardzo poważnie.
began look.inf very serious.adv
‘[People/They] started to look very serious.’
b. Zdawano się tego nie dostrzegać.
seemed się this.gen neg notice.inf
‘[People/They] seemed not to notice this.’ (Kibort 2004: 272)
With regard to binding, Kibort (2004) observes that the null subject DP of the SIĘ and
the –NO/–TO impersonals is also capable of binding reflexive and reflexive-possessive
pronouns that need to be bound by the subject, as illustrated by examples in (12) and
(13) respectively.
(12) a. Oglądano siebie/się^6 w lustrze.
looked self/się in mirror
‘[People/They] looked at oneself/themselves in the mirror.’
(Kibort 2004: 273)- In Polish the reflexive pronoun siebie ‘selfacc’ is, in very restricted contexts, interchange-
able with a multifunctional enclitic form się (see Nagórko 1998 and Kibort 2004).