Learn Hardcore Polish: Idę na spacer, nawet jeśli pada deszcz. - I am going for a walk even if it is raining.

iść / idę – one specific movement happening now or in the near future (“I’m going (this time)”).
chodzić / chodzę – repeated, habitual movement (“I (usually) go / I walk”).

In Idę na spacer, the speaker is talking about a specific walk they are (about to be) taking, not about their general habit.

Compare:

Idę na spacer. – I’m going for a walk (now / this time).
Chodzę na spacery. – I (often / regularly) go for walks.

Can Idę na spacer also mean “I will go for a walk” (future)?

Yes. In Polish, the present tense of iść is often used for a near, planned future, similar to English “I’m going for a walk (later / soon).”

Context decides whether Idę na spacer is:

“I’m going for a walk (right now).”
“I’m going for a walk (later today / this evening).”

If you want to emphasize a single future act more clearly, you can use the perfective pójdę:

Pójdę na spacer, nawet jeśli będzie padał deszcz. – I will go for a walk, even if it’s raining.

But Idę na spacer is very natural in everyday speech for a near future plan.

Why do we say na spacer and not something like do spaceru for “for a walk”?

With verbs of movement, Polish uses na + accusative for many activities:

iść na spacer – go for a walk
iść na zakupy – go shopping
iść na obiad – go (for) lunch
iść na koncert – go to a concert

So na spacer (accusative form of spacer) is the fixed, natural expression for “for a walk.”

Do spaceru is not used in this sense; it could appear in other grammatical contexts, but not after iść meaning “go for a walk.”

What case is spacer in, and why?

In Idę na spacer, the noun spacer is in the accusative case.

Reason:

iść na + accusative is the pattern that expresses movement towards an activity or place.
So:
iść na spacer – go for a walk
iść na plażę – go to the beach
iść na pocztę – go to the post office

All these nouns are in the accusative after na with motion.

Could we also say Idę na spacer, chociaż pada deszcz instead of nawet jeśli? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Idę na spacer, chociaż pada deszcz.

Differences:

nawet jeśli = even if
- Highlights a condition (maybe it will rain, maybe not; I’ll go even in that case).
chociaż = although / even though
- Highlights a fact that is (or is presented as) true: it is raining, but I go anyway.

So:

Idę na spacer, nawet jeśli pada deszcz.
– I’m going for a walk, even if it rains. (condition, not necessarily factual yet)
Idę na spacer, chociaż pada deszcz.
– I’m going for a walk, although it’s raining. (the rain is treated as real now)

In everyday speech, people sometimes blur this distinction, but that’s the basic idea.

What exactly does nawet jeśli mean, and can I split it?

nawet jeśli literally combines:

nawet – even
jeśli – if

Together: nawet jeśli = even if.

You treat it as a unit introducing a clause:

Nawet jeśli pada deszcz, idę na spacer.
Idę na spacer, nawet jeśli pada deszcz.

You don’t normally insert words between nawet and jeśli. You can move the whole phrase (clause) to the beginning or end of the sentence, but keep nawet and jeśli together.

Why is there a comma before nawet jeśli?

In Polish, you put a comma before conjunctions that introduce a dependent clause, such as:

jeśli, że, kiedy, chociaż, ponieważ, etc.

Here nawet jeśli pada deszcz is a subordinate clause (“even if it rains”), so you need a comma before nawet jeśli:

Idę na spacer, nawet jeśli pada deszcz.

If you reverse the order, there’s still a comma:

Nawet jeśli pada deszcz, idę na spacer.

Why is it pada deszcz and not just pada? Aren’t both used?

Yes, both are used:

Pada deszcz. – It is raining (literally “rain is falling”).
Pada. – It is raining.

pada (from padać) literally means “falls / is falling,” and in weather talk often implies “rain is falling” by default, so pada alone is often enough.

In nawet jeśli pada deszcz, adding deszcz makes it explicit that we’re talking about rain, not snow or something else. You could also say:

nawet jeśli pada – even if it’s raining (context-dependent).
nawet jeśli pada śnieg – even if it’s snowing.

What person and number is idę, and why don’t we see the pronoun ja?

idę is:

1st person singular present tense of iść → (ja) idę – I go / I am going.

In Polish, the subject pronoun (ja, ty, on/ona/ono, etc.) is normally dropped because the verb ending shows the person and number clearly.

So:

Idę na spacer. – I’m going for a walk.
Ja idę na spacer. – Grammatically correct, but usually used only for emphasis (e.g. contrast: “I’m going for a walk (but you are not).”)

Can I change the word order to Nawet jeśli pada deszcz, idę na spacer? Does the meaning change?

Yes, that word order is perfectly natural:

Idę na spacer, nawet jeśli pada deszcz.
Nawet jeśli pada deszcz, idę na spacer.

Both mean the same thing. Polish word order is flexible, and moving the subordinate clause to the front mainly changes rhythm / emphasis, not the basic meaning.

Putting Nawet jeśli pada deszcz first slightly emphasizes the condition.

Is deszcz masculine, and do I need to worry about its case here?

Yes, deszcz is a masculine noun.

In pada deszcz, the word deszcz is in the nominative case because it’s the grammatical subject of the verb pada (“rain is falling”).

You don’t see any case ending changes here, because the nominative singular form is just deszcz. You will see different forms in other cases, e.g.:

bez deszczu – without rain (genitive)
w deszczu – in the rain (locative)

Is there a difference between pada deszcz and jest deszcz?

Yes, and jest deszcz is not natural Polish in this context.

For weather, Polish typically uses special verbs:

Pada (deszcz). – It’s raining.
Świeci słońce. – The sun is shining.
Wieje wiatr. – The wind is blowing.

You generally don’t say jest deszcz to mean “there is rain / it is raining.” Use pada deszcz or simply pada instead.