Breakdown of Obiecuję mu, że wyjaśnię sekret później.
że
that
później
later
obiecać
to promise
mu
him
wyjaśnić
to explain
sekret
the secret
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Questions & Answers about Obiecuję mu, że wyjaśnię sekret później.
Why is mu in the dative case, and what does it mean here?
mu is the third-person-singular dative pronoun (from on “he”). In Polish the person to whom you “promise” something is an indirect object, so you use the dative. Obiecuję mu literally means “I promise to him.”
Why is there a comma before że?
In Polish, a comma always precedes a subordinate clause introduced by że. So you write Obiecuję mu, że... whenever you add “that…” after your main clause.
What is the role of że in this sentence?
że is a conjunction meaning that, used to introduce the content of the promise: “that I will explain the secret later.”
Why is wyjaśnię in the future tense?
Because you’re promising something that will happen in the future. wyjaśnię is the first-person-singular future form of the perfective verb wyjaśnić “to explain.”
What is the difference between wyjaśnię and wyjaśniam?
wyjaśnię (perfective, future) indicates a single, completed action: “I will explain.”
wyjaśniam (imperfective, present) would mean “I am explaining” (ongoing) or “I explain” habitually. For a promise about a single future act, use the perfective future.
Why is sekret not declined here? What case is it?
sekret is in the accusative case as the direct object of wyjaśnię. For masculine inanimate nouns like sekret, the nominative and accusative forms are identical, so it stays sekret.
What type of word is później, and why is it placed at the end?
później is an adverb meaning later. Polish word order is relatively flexible, but placing time-adverbs at the end after the verb and object (wyjaśnię sekret później) is very common and natural.
Could you move później to a different position?
Yes, you could say Później wyjaśnię mu sekret (“Later I will explain the secret to him”) or Obiecuję mu, że później wyjaśnię sekret, though that second one places the time-adverb in the subordinate clause. All are grammatically correct, but the original emphasizes the promise first and then adds “later.”
Can you also say Obiecuję mu wyjaśnić sekret później without że and a finite verb?
A construction with an infinitive (wyjaśnić) after obiecuję is possible colloquially: Obiecuję mu wyjaśnić sekret później. It’s understood but slightly less formal. Using że + finite verb (że wyjaśnię) is the standard, clearer way.