Breakdown of Muszę podjąć decyzję przed jutrzejszym spotkaniem.
ja
I
przed
before
spotkanie
the meeting
musieć
to have to
jutrzejszy
tomorrow’s
podjąć decyzję
to make a decision
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Polish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Muszę podjąć decyzję przed jutrzejszym spotkaniem.
Why is Muszę used here and what does it mean?
It is the first-person singular present form of the modal verb musieć, meaning I must / I have to. In Polish, modal verbs are conjugated to match the subject, and they are followed by the infinitive of the main action verb.
Why is podjąć in the infinitive form?
Because musieć (to have to) requires that the verb which follows be in the infinitive. So you say muszę + infinitive (here podjąć).
What’s special about the verb podjąć and why not use zdecydować?
Podjąć is the perfective form of podejmować, and podjąć decyzję is a common collocation meaning to make a decision. You could use zdecydować (“to decide”), but then the construction changes: e.g., Muszę się zdecydować or Muszę zdecydować, co zrobić. Podjąć decyzję is a fixed, slightly more formal phrase.
Why is podjąć perfective rather than imperfective (podejmować)?
Polish aspect distinguishes between completed actions (perfective) and ongoing or habitual actions (imperfective). Here you need the decision to be completed before tomorrow, so the perfective podjąć is used.
Why is decyzję in that form, not decyzja?
Decyzja is a feminine noun; its accusative singular form is decyzję. Because it’s the direct object of podjąć, it takes the accusative case, which for feminine nouns ends in -ę.
Why does przed take the instrumental case in przed jutrzejszym spotkaniem?
When przed means before in a temporal sense, it governs the instrumental case. That’s why both jutrzejszym (adjective) and spotkaniem (noun) are in instrumental singular.
Why is it jutrzejszym spotkaniem and not just jutro spotkaniem?
You need an adjective to modify spotkanie (“meeting”). Jutrzejszy means tomorrow’s, and in the instrumental it becomes jutrzejszym. The adverb jutro can’t directly modify a noun.
Can I omit the subject ja in this sentence?
Yes. Polish verbs are conjugated for person and number, so Muszę already implies ja (“I”). Subject pronouns are typically dropped unless you want to emphasize the subject.
How do you pronounce the nasal vowels ą in podjąć and ę in decyzję?
Ą is like the French nasal “on,” so podjąć sounds roughly like pod[on]ć (with a soft “ń” before ć). Ę is like French “en,” but a bit shorter; decyzję sounds approximately deh-[sen]-yeh (again with a soft “ń” before yeh).
Is it okay to change the word order, for example Przed jutrzejszym spotkaniem muszę podjąć decyzję?
Yes. Polish has relatively flexible word order. Fronting Przed jutrzejszym spotkaniem places emphasis on the time frame (“Before tomorrow’s meeting…”), but the basic meaning remains the same.