Annotated Text: A Weather Forecast | Polish Grammar

A weather forecast is one of the most grammatically distinctive texts a learner will ever meet, because almost nothing in it has a subject. Polish weather is overwhelmingly impersonal: it rains, it will be cloudy, it is getting warmer — and where English at least props up an empty "it," Polish supplies nothing at all. The forecast below is written in the neutral, slightly compressed informational register you would hear on the radio or read under a map. Annotating it shows how dense authentic Polish becomes with subjectless verbs, the impersonal future, and the case endings that locate weather in space and describe its quality.

The forecast

Prognoza pogody na jutro.

The weather forecast for tomorrow.

W nocy będzie pochmurno, a miejscami popada deszcz.

At night it will be cloudy, and in places some rain will fall.

Na północy kraju temperatura spadnie do pięciu stopni.

In the north of the country the temperature will drop to five degrees.

Na południu będzie cieplej, około dwunastu stopni.

In the south it will be warmer, around twelve degrees.

Rano będzie mglisto, ale po południu zacznie się przejaśniać.

In the morning it will be foggy, but in the afternoon it will start to clear up.

Wiatr będzie umiarkowany, z przewagą kierunków zachodnich.

The wind will be moderate, predominantly from the west.

Nad morzem może być wietrznie i deszczowo.

By the sea it may be windy and rainy.

W górach spadnie pierwszy śnieg, a drogi będą śliskie.

In the mountains the first snow will fall, and the roads will be slippery.

Jutro w całym kraju ma być chłodno i wilgotno.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be cold and damp across the whole country.

Grammar in this text

Subjectless weather verbs

Polish describes weather events with verbs that simply have no subject. Popada deszcz literally has deszcz (rain) as a kind of subject, but the workhorse pattern is fully subjectless: pada (it's raining/falling), zacznie się przejaśniać (it will start to clear up). There is no word for "it" — the verb stands alone in the third-person singular. This is the heart of impersonal sentences, and forecasts are where you meet them at their densest.

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English forces a dummy subject ("it is raining"); Polish forbids one. Train yourself to start a weather clause with the verb or an adverb, never with a translated "it": say Pada or Będzie padać, never To pada for "it's raining."

The adjective-based descriptions follow the same logic. Będzie pochmurno, będzie mglisto, będzie cieplej, może być wietrznie i deszczowo all use the predicative adverb (the -o form, e.g. pochmurno, mglisto, wietrznie) rather than an agreeing adjective, precisely because there is no noun for it to agree with. The weather just is cloudy, with nothing the cloudiness attaches to.

The impersonal future: będzie + adverb

Forecasts live in the future, and the impersonal future is built on the future of być. Będzie (it will be) plus a predicative adverb gives you będzie pochmurno, będzie mglisto, będzie cieplej. The może być and ma być variants add a shade of meaning: może być wietrznie ("it may be windy") hedges, while ma być chłodno ("it is supposed to be cold") reports an expectation, often what the forecast itself predicts. For the full conjugation that drives all of these, see the future of być.

Jutro będzie słonecznie, ale pojutrze może być deszczowo.

Tomorrow it will be sunny, but the day after it may be rainy.

Compare the two impersonal futures here: będzie słonecznie states a plain prediction, może być deszczowo softens it to a possibility. Both keep the subjectless, adverb-final shape.

The locative for regions: na północy, w górach

Weather is always somewhere, and Polish places it with prepositions that take the locative. Na północy (in the north), na południu (in the south), nad morzem (by the sea), w górach (in the mountains), w całym kraju (across the whole country) all answer "where?" with static location. Note the two prepositions: na + locative for the cardinal directions and the sea coast, w + locative for enclosed or bounded regions like the mountains and the country. See location with w and na.

Na wschodzie kraju będzie zimno, a na zachodzie spadnie deszcz.

In the east of the country it will be cold, and in the west rain will fall.

Both na wschodzie and na zachodzie are na + locative — the standard frame for naming a region of the country in a forecast.

The instrumental for conditions: z przewagą, with quality

Two instrumental uses turn up in forecasts. The wind line z przewagą kierunków zachodnich uses z + instrumental (przewagą) to describe an accompanying characteristic — "with a predominance of westerly directions." And manner phrases describing how conditions develop lean on the instrumental as well. The instrumental's job here is to attach a quality or manner to the event rather than to name a participant in it. See instrumental of time and manner.

Wiatr będzie silny, z porywami do osiemdziesięciu kilometrów na godzinę.

The wind will be strong, with gusts of up to eighty kilometres per hour.

Here z porywami (with gusts) is again z + instrumental, the standard way a forecast bolts a qualifying detail onto a stated condition.

The general vocabulary of skies, temperature and seasons is collected in weather and nature expressions.

Common Mistakes

❌ To będzie pochmurno jutro.

Incorrect — inserting a dummy subject

✅ Jutro będzie pochmurno.

Tomorrow it will be cloudy.

Polish weather statements are subjectless. Translating English "it" as to produces an ungrammatical pseudo-subject. Lead with the time adverb or the verb instead.

❌ Będzie pochmurny.

Incorrect — adjective where a predicative adverb is needed

✅ Będzie pochmurno.

It will be cloudy.

With no noun to agree with, the description must be the -o predicative adverb (pochmurno), not the masculine adjective pochmurny. The adjective would need a noun ("a cloudy day"), which the impersonal frame doesn't supply.

❌ W północy kraju będzie zimno.

Incorrect — wrong preposition for a cardinal direction

✅ Na północy kraju będzie zimno.

In the north of the country it will be cold.

Cardinal directions as regions take na + locative (na północy), not w. Reserve w + locative for bounded areas like w górach or w kraju.

❌ Temperatura spadnie do pięć stopni.

Incorrect — number after 'do' not in the genitive

✅ Temperatura spadnie do pięciu stopni.

The temperature will drop to five degrees.

The preposition do takes the genitive, so the numeral must be pięciu and the noun stopni, not the citation forms pięć stopni. Temperature readings constantly trigger this, since do ("down to") governs every "drops to N degrees."

Key Takeaways

Weather Polish is subjectless: no dummy "it," just a verb (pada) or będzie
- predicative adverb (będzie mglisto).
The impersonal future uses będzie / może być / ma być
- an -o adverb to predict and to hedge.
Regions take the locative: na for directions and the coast (na północy), w for bounded areas (w górach).
The instrumental attaches qualifying conditions: z przewagą kierunków zachodnich, z porywami.

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