Мне придётся остаться дома вечером.

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Breakdown of Мне придётся остаться дома вечером.

• дома: at home
• вечером: in the evening
• остаться: to stay

Questions & Answers about Мне придётся остаться дома вечером.

Why is it мне and not я, if the sentence means I will have to stay at home in the evening?

In Russian, many expressions of obligation use an impersonal construction with the dative case for the person who is affected.

• Мне придётся… literally: “To me it will be necessary…”
• The “real” grammatical subject is the situation, not я.
• Мне is dative of я, showing who is experiencing this necessity.

So instead of saying Я должен остаться… (I must stay…), Russian often says Мне придётся остаться… (To me it will be necessary to stay…).

What exactly is придётся? From which verb is it, and what tense is it?

Придётся is the 3rd person singular future form of the verb прийтись in its impersonal use.

• Infinitive: прийтись (literally “to come to (someone)” → figuratively “to have to” in this construction)
• Form here: (оно) придётся – impersonal “it will turn out necessary / one will have to”

• Combined with a dative: мне придётся = “I will have to”

  Even though there is no visible subject, grammatically it’s future tense, 3rd person singular, neuter being used impersonally.

How is Мне придётся… different from Мне нужно… or Я должен…?