Obiecuję mu, że wyjaśnię sekret później.

that

Breakdown of Obiecuję mu, że wyjaśnię sekret później.

• później: later
• obiecać: to promise
• mu: him

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.