Learn Hardcore Polish: Zacznę sprzątać pokój jutro rano. - I will start cleaning the room tomorrow morning.

Polish verbs have two aspects: perfective (completed action) and imperfective (ongoing/repeated action). zacznę is the 1st-person form of the perfective verb zacząć (“to begin”), while sprzątać is imperfective (“to clean/tidy” as a process). Together, zacznę sprzątać literally means “I will begin cleaning,” focusing on the start of an ongoing activity rather than its completion.

Why is sprzątać not in its perfective form posprzątać in this sentence?

Using the perfective infinitive posprzątać would imply “I will begin and also complete the cleaning” (result-oriented). Here, the speaker simply announces the start of the cleaning process. By keeping sprzątać imperfective, the nuance remains on initiating an ongoing activity, not on finishing it.

Why do we use the perfective zacznę instead of the present-tense zaczynam to talk about tomorrow?

zaczynam is the present tense of the imperfective verb zaczynać, which normally refers to actions beginning now. To schedule a one-time start in the future, Polish uses a perfective form like zacznę. Present-tense forms of imperfective verbs do not generally express a single future event the way English present continuous can.

What case is pokój in, and why doesn’t its form change in the accusative?

pokój is a masculine inanimate noun serving as the direct object of sprzątać, so it’s in the accusative case. In Polish, masculine inanimate nouns have identical nominative and accusative singular forms, so pokój remains unchanged.

What part of speech are jutro and rano, and how do they function in the sentence?

Both jutro (“tomorrow”) and rano (“in the morning”) are indeclinable adverbs of time. Together they form the phrase jutro rano (“tomorrow morning”), answering the question “When?” rather than taking any case endings.

Can I move jutro rano to a different position in the sentence without changing the meaning?

Yes. Polish word order is flexible, especially for adverbials. You can say Jutro rano zacznę sprzątać pokój or Zacznę jutro rano sprzątać pokój. The basic meaning stays “I will start cleaning the room tomorrow morning,” though front-positioning jutro rano adds slight emphasis to the time.

What is the infinitive of zacznę, and how is that verb conjugated?

The infinitive is zacząć. It’s a perfective verb, so its so-called “present” forms express the future. Conjugation: ja zacznę, ty zaczniesz, on/ona/ono zacznie, my zaczniemy, wy zaczniecie, oni/one zaczną.

How do you pronounce the nasal vowel ą in sprzątać, and where is the stress?

The letter ą is a nasalized vowel similar to the French “on” in bon. sprzątać is pronounced roughly [sprɔ̃t͡ɕat͡ɕ]. Polish words are stressed on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable, so stress falls on sprzą-: SPRZĄ-tać.

Could I instead say Będę sprzątał pokój jutro rano? What’s the difference?

Yes. Będę sprzątał is the compound future of the imperfective verb sprzątać and means “I will be cleaning” or “I will clean” (process). Zacznę sprzątać highlights exactly the moment you begin the cleaning. Będę sprzątał simply states that you will clean at some point tomorrow morning, without focusing on the start.