Breakdown of Obawiam się, że będzie padać.
być
to be
że
that
padać
to rain / to fall (of snow, hail)
obawiać się
to fear, to be afraid of (+ Genitive; o + Accusative; że)
Questions & Answers about Obawiam się, że będzie padać.
Could I use boję się here instead of obawiam się?
Yes, you can say Boję się, że..., which is very common in everyday speech. However, obawiać się is a bit more formal and is often used to express a mild concern or apprehension, much like saying "I am afraid that..." or "I am concerned that..." in English rather than "I am scared."
Why does padać stay in the infinitive here?
It is part of the future tense for imperfective verbs. To say "it will rain" or "it will be raining," you use the future form of "to be" (będzie) plus either the infinitive (padać) or the third-person past tense form (padało). So, będzie padać and będzie padało are both completely correct.
If I wanted to say "I am afraid of the rain" instead of "that it will rain," how would the sentence change?
The verb obawiać się requires the Genitive case when followed directly by a noun. So "I am afraid of the rain" would be Obawiam się deszczu. In our example sentence, że (that) is used instead because it introduces a whole new action or clause.
Why is there a comma before że? We don't always use one before "that" in English.
Polish punctuation rules are stricter about this than English. You must always place a comma before a conjunction that introduces a subordinate clause, such as że (that), ponieważ (because), or który (which).
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