Muszę dokończyć raport przed spotkaniem.

In Polish, the subject pronoun is often omitted because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• muszę = I must / I have to
• The ending -ę tells you it is 1st person singular: I

So Muszę dokończyć raport przed spotkaniem naturally means I have to finish the report before the meeting without needing ja.

You could say Ja muszę..., but that usually adds emphasis, like I have to do it.

Muszę can mean both must and have to, depending on context.

In everyday Polish, muszę is very commonly used where English speakers might say either:

• I must finish the report
• I have to finish the report

So in this sentence, muszę expresses necessity or obligation, but it does not strongly force a distinction between must and have to.

Dokończyć means to finish off / to finish something that has already been started.

That is an important nuance here:

• kończyć = to be finishing / to finish (imperfective)
• skończyć = to finish / complete (perfective)
• dokończyć = to finish up / finish the rest of something already in progress (perfective)

So dokończyć raport suggests:

• the report is probably already partly done
• the speaker needs to complete the remaining part

If you said Muszę skończyć raport, that would also be very natural, but dokończyć emphasizes finishing what has already been started.

After muszę, Polish normally uses the infinitive of the main action.

So the structure is:

• muszę
  • infinitive
• I have to
  • verb

Examples:

• Muszę pracować. = I have to work.
• Muszę napisać email. = I have to write an email.
• Muszę dokończyć raport. = I have to finish the report.

This is very similar to English.

Because raport is the direct object of dokończyć, so it is in the accusative case.

For an inanimate masculine noun like raport, the accusative singular is the same as the nominative singular:

• nominative: raport
• accusative: raport

So even though the case changes grammatically, the form stays the same.

This is very common with masculine inanimate nouns in Polish.

Because the preposition przed requires the instrumental case when it means before in time.

So:

• spotkanie = nominative / dictionary form
• spotkaniem = instrumental singular

That is why you get:

• przed spotkaniem = before the meeting

This is one of those case patterns you simply need to learn with the preposition.

Not always. Przed can mean different things depending on context, but two very common meanings are:

• before (in time)
• in front of (in space)

Examples:

• przed spotkaniem = before the meeting
• przed domem = in front of the house

In both cases, przed is followed by the instrumental.

Spotkaniem is the instrumental singular of spotkanie.

The noun spotkanie is a neuter noun, and many neuter nouns ending in -e form the instrumental singular in -em:

• spotkanie → spotkaniem
• zadanie → zadaniem
• pytanie → pytaniem

So after przed, you use the instrumental:

• przed spotkaniem

No, Polish word order is fairly flexible, although some orders sound more neutral than others.

The most neutral version here is:

• Muszę dokończyć raport przed spotkaniem.

You could also say:

• Przed spotkaniem muszę dokończyć raport.
• Raport muszę dokończyć przed spotkaniem.

These alternatives shift the emphasis:

• Przed spotkaniem... emphasizes the time limit
• Raport... emphasizes what has to be finished

So the original order is natural and neutral, but not the only possible one.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Muszę ≈ MOO-sheh
• dokończyć ≈ doh-KON-chich
• raport ≈ RA-port
• przed ≈ pshet or pshed (depending on speech)
• spotkaniem ≈ spot-KA-nyem

A few useful notes:

• sz sounds like English sh
• cz sounds like ch in chop, but harder
• ń is a soft ny sound
• ę often does not sound like a full nasal vowel in normal speech; in muszę, it often sounds close to e at the end

So Muszę is usually heard close to MOO-sheh, not like a strongly nasal ending.

Yes. In many contexts, Muszę dokończyć raport przed spotkaniem can be translated naturally as:

• I must finish the report before the meeting
• I have to finish the report before the meeting
• I need to finish the report before the meeting

The exact English choice depends on tone and context, not on a strict one-to-one difference in the Polish sentence.

It depends on context.

• Muszę dokończyć raport przed spotkaniem = I have to finish the report before the meeting
• Muszę dokończyć ten raport przed spotkaniem = I have to finish this report before the meeting

Adding ten makes the report more specific, as if both speakers know which report is meant.

Without ten, the sentence is still completely natural. Polish often leaves out articles and similar markers that English would use.

Dokończyć is perfective.

In Polish, aspect is very important:

• imperfective verbs focus on process, repetition, or ongoing action
• perfective verbs focus on completion or a finished result

Here, the speaker is talking about completing the report before a deadline, so the perfective verb is the natural choice:

• Muszę dokończyć raport = I need to get it finished

If you used an imperfective verb such as kończyć, it would sound less natural in this context because the goal is not just to be working on finishing it, but to complete it.