Deszcz sprawił, że wróciliśmy do domu.

The rain made us return home.

Breakdown of Deszcz sprawił, że wróciliśmy do domu.

• dom: the house
• do: to
• wrócić: to return
• że: that
• deszcz: the rain
• sprawić: to make

Questions & Answers about Deszcz sprawił, że wróciliśmy do domu.

What is the function of sprawić in this sentence, and how does the construction sprawić, że + clause work?

Sprawić is a perfective verb meaning to cause. In Polish you can say sprawić, że followed by a subordinate clause introduced by że, and this whole construction means “to cause that [something happens]”. Here it expresses that the rain caused us to go back home.

Why is there a comma before że?

In Polish, you always put a comma before że when it introduces a subordinate clause. So in Deszcz sprawił, że wróciliśmy do domu, the comma separates the main clause (Deszcz sprawił) from the subordinate clause (że wróciliśmy do domu).

What is the form wróciliśmy? Can you break down its tense, person, number, and aspect?

wróciliśmy is the past tense form of the perfective verb wrócić. It’s:

• 1st person plural (we)
• masculine personal (if the group includes at least one male)
• perfective aspect (completed action)
  So it literally means we returned (and finished returning).

Why is the perfective aspect used here instead of the imperfective wracać?

Perfective verbs (like wrócić) describe completed actions or single events. Since the speaker refers to the fact that “we did return” as a finished event, perfective aspect is required. The imperfective wracaliśmy would imply a repeated or ongoing returning process, which doesn’t fit this context.

Why is it do domu and not just domu or na dom?

The preposition do governs the genitive case and expresses motion to a place. That’s why dom becomes domu (genitive). You need do to say “(we returned) to home”. Without do, you’d lose the direction meaning.

Could you use a different preposition with wrócić, like w or na?

No, when you talk about returning to a place you normally use wrócić do + genitive. Using w or na with locative instead of do + genitive would sound incorrect for expressing direction.

Is there a difference between sprawić, że and spowodować, że?

Both verbs mean to cause, but spowodować is slightly more formal or clinical. sprawić, że is more colloquial and common in everyday speech. Semantically they are nearly interchangeable in this kind of sentence.

Can you omit że and just say Deszcz sprawił wróciliśmy do domu?

No. The conjunction że is mandatory in this construction to link the cause verb (sprawić) with the result clause. Omitting że would be ungrammatical.