Muszę skończyć raport przed terminem.

Muszę means I must, I have to, or I need to, depending on context.

Its dictionary form is musieć = to have to / must.

Here, muszę is the 1st person singular form, so it matches an understood I:

• muszę = I must
• musisz = you must
• musi = he/she/it must

Polish often leaves out the subject pronoun, so ja is not needed.
Muszę already tells you the subject is I.

Because Polish usually does not need subject pronouns when the verb already shows who is doing the action.

So:

• Muszę skończyć raport = I have to finish the report

Adding ja is possible, but it usually gives emphasis or contrast:

• Ja muszę skończyć raport, nie ty.
  I have to finish the report, not you.

Without emphasis, leaving out ja is the normal choice.

This is about aspect, which is very important in Polish verbs.

• kończyć = to be finishing / to finish in an ongoing, repeated, or non-completed sense
• skończyć = to finish completely / to complete

In this sentence, the speaker means they need to bring the report to completion, so skończyć is the natural choice.

Compare:

• Muszę kończyć raport.
  This can sound more like I need to be finishing / I need to work on finishing the report.

• Muszę skończyć raport.
  I need to finish the report completely.

So skończyć emphasizes the completed result.

Because musieć works like a modal verb in English, similar to must or have to.

So the pattern is:

• musieć + infinitive

Examples:

• Muszę pracować. = I have to work.
• Muszę iść. = I have to go.
• Muszę skończyć raport. = I have to finish the report.

Here, skończyć stays in the infinitive because it depends on muszę.

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

For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular is often the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• raport = nominative singular
• raport = accusative singular

That is why the form does not change here.

Compare with a masculine animate noun, where accusative often does change:

• Widzę psa. = I see the dog.
  (pies → psa)

But:

• Widzę raport. = I see the report.
  (raport stays raport)

After the preposition przed, Polish normally uses the instrumental case.

So:

• termin = nominative
• terminem = instrumental

That is why the sentence has:

• przed terminem = before the deadline / ahead of schedule

This is a very useful pattern to remember:

• przed + instrumental

Examples:

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

In this sentence, termin means something like:

• deadline
• due date
• scheduled date/time

So przed terminem means:

• before the deadline
• ahead of schedule
• before it is due

This is often a little broader than English term, which usually does not mean deadline in everyday English.

Useful comparisons:

• termin oddania raportu = the deadline for submitting the report
• na termin = on time / by the deadline
• przed terminem = before the deadline

Not exactly.

• przed terminem means before the deadline
• do terminu or sometimes na termin relates more to by the deadline / in time for the deadline

So:

• Muszę skończyć raport przed terminem.
  I need to finish the report before the deadline.

This suggests finishing earlier than necessary, not just barely in time.

If you wanted the idea of simply meeting the deadline, you might say something like:

• Muszę skończyć raport na termin.
• Muszę skończyć raport do terminu.

But przed terminem clearly means earlier than the due date.

Because Polish has no articles like English a, an, and the.

So:

• raport can mean a report or the report
• termin can mean a deadline, the deadline, a date, or the date

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, English naturally uses the report and the deadline, but Polish does not need separate words for that.

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English because case endings show grammatical roles.

The neutral, natural order here is:

• Muszę skończyć raport przed terminem.

But other orders are possible for emphasis:

• Raport muszę skończyć przed terminem.
  Emphasis on the report

• Przed terminem muszę skończyć raport.
  Emphasis on before the deadline

• Muszę przed terminem skończyć raport.
  Also possible, with a slightly different rhythm/focus

Even though the order can change, the original sentence is the most standard and neutral.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Muszę ≈ MOO-sheh
  The sz sounds like English sh.
  The final ę is often pronounced somewhat like eh or a nasalized vowel, especially in normal speech.

• skończyć ≈ SKON-chich
  The ń is a soft n sound.
  The cz sounds like English ch in chop.
  The final ć is a softer sound, a bit like a very soft ch.

• przed terminem ≈ pshet ter-MEE-nem
  In przed, the written rz sounds like zh/sh depending on context, and the whole word is pronounced more simply than it looks.

A few letter tips:

• sz = sh
• cz = ch
• ć = soft ch
• ń = soft ny
• ę = nasal vowel, though in everyday pronunciation it often sounds less strongly nasal than learners expect

Yes, that is grammatically correct.

But in normal Polish, ja is usually unnecessary unless you want emphasis.

Compare:

• Muszę skończyć raport przed terminem.
  Neutral: I need to finish the report before the deadline.

• Ja muszę skończyć raport przed terminem.
  Emphatic: I need to finish the report before the deadline.

So both are correct, but the version without ja is more natural in most situations.

Yes. In many contexts, skończyć raport can be translated as either:

• finish the report
• complete the report

Both capture the idea that the report is brought to an end.

English chooses between finish and complete based on style:

• finish sounds more everyday
• complete sounds a bit more formal

Polish skończyć itself is very normal and natural here.