Muszę wyjść z domu za piętnaście minut.

Muszę means I must or I have to.

It is the 1st person singular form of the verb musieć (to have to / must). The ending -ę often marks I in Polish present-tense verb forms.

So:

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

In this sentence, muszę expresses obligation: the speaker is saying that leaving is necessary.

After muszę, Polish normally uses an infinitive, just like English often uses to + verb.

So:

• Muszę wyjść = I must leave / I have to go out

Here, wyjść is the infinitive form of the verb. It means to go out, to leave, or to step out, depending on context.

This is a very common pattern in Polish:

• Muszę iść = I must go
• Muszę pracować = I have to work
• Muszę wyjść = I have to leave

This is a question about aspect, which is very important in Polish.

• wyjść = perfective
• wychodzić = imperfective

In this sentence, wyjść is used because the speaker means one complete action: leaving the house once, at a specific time.

So:

• Muszę wyjść z domu za piętnaście minut = I need to leave the house in fifteen minutes

If you used wychodzić, it would sound different. It could suggest repeated action, a process, or something habitual, depending on context.

For a single completed future action, wyjść is the natural choice.

Because the preposition z here means from / out of, and in this meaning it requires the genitive case.

The noun dom changes in the genitive singular:

• dom = house/home
• z domu = from the house / from home

So:

• z domu is correct
• z dom is incorrect
• z domem would mean something else, because domem is instrumental

This is a very common pattern:

• z pracy = from work
• z Polski = from Poland
• z domu = from home

It can mean either, depending on context.

In Polish, dom can refer to:

• a physical house
• home in the broader sense

So wyjść z domu can mean:

• leave the house
• leave home

In everyday speech, this phrase is very natural and common.

Here, za means in, in the sense of after a period of time from now.

So:

• za pięć minut = in five minutes
• za godzinę = in an hour
• za piętnaście minut = in fifteen minutes

This is a standard Polish way to talk about something that will happen after some amount of time has passed.

So the sentence means the speaker must leave fifteen minutes from now, not for fifteen minutes and not after leaving.

Because in Polish, numbers 5 and higher usually require the noun to appear in the genitive plural.

So:

• jedna minuta = one minute
• dwie / trzy / cztery minuty = two / three / four minutes
• pięć minut = five minutes
• piętnaście minut = fifteen minutes

That is why you get minut, not minuty.

This is one of the most important number patterns in Polish.

Good question. The short answer is: the whole expression after za is an accusative numeral phrase, but with numbers like pięć, sześć, piętnaście, the noun inside that phrase appears in the genitive plural.

So in:

• za piętnaście minut

the phrase as a whole works after za, but the noun minut still has the form required by the numeral piętnaście.

This is normal in Polish numeral grammar. It looks confusing at first, but it is a standard pattern.

It means I have to leave in fifteen minutes.

The phrase za piętnaście minut clearly places the action in the near future.

So the idea is:

• right now, I am still here
• fifteen minutes from now, I need to leave

If you wanted to say I have to leave now, you would say something like:

• Muszę wyjść teraz = I have to leave now

Yes, Polish word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral, natural version is:

• Muszę wyjść z domu za piętnaście minut.

But you could also hear:

• Za piętnaście minut muszę wyjść z domu.
• Muszę za piętnaście minut wyjść z domu.

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis changes slightly.

For example:

• Za piętnaście minut muszę wyjść z domu puts more focus on the time

For a learner, the original version is a very good neutral model to remember.

Because Polish does not use articles like English a and the.

So Polish simply says:

• dom = house / a house / the house
• z domu = from home / from the house

You understand whether it is a, the, or just a general idea from context.

This is very normal in Polish, even though it feels unusual to English speakers at first.

A rough guide:

• muszę sounds approximately like MOO-sheh
• wyjść is harder; roughly vihyshch or vih-shtch, depending on how detailed you want to be

A few useful notes:

• sz sounds like English sh
• ę is a nasal vowel; at the end of a word, learners often pronounce it approximately like eh at first
• j sounds like English y
• ść is a soft consonant cluster that can be tricky for beginners

So a practical learner pronunciation might be:

• Muszę wyjść z domu za piętnaście minut
• approximately: MOO-sheh VIHYSHCH z DOH-moo za pyen-NAHSH-cheh MEE-noot

It does not have to be perfect right away. Wyjść is genuinely a difficult word for many learners.

It often overlaps with both must and have to.

• Muszę can sound like I must
• but in many everyday situations, it is also just I have to

So in normal conversation, Muszę wyjść z domu za piętnaście minut does not necessarily sound dramatic or formal. It can simply mean the speaker has an obligation or a practical need.

In English, must sometimes sounds stronger than have to. In Polish, muszę is very common in ordinary speech.