Breakdown of Nie wierzę w ten przesąd, ale oby dzisiaj nie padało.
nie
no / not
ten
this (m)
dzisiaj
today
ale
but
Questions & Answers about Nie wierzę w ten przesąd, ale oby dzisiaj nie padało.
Why is the past tense verb padało used when talking about the weather today?
The particle oby (meaning "hopefully" or "if only") strictly requires the past tense form of the verb, even when your wish is about the present or the future. This is the standard way to form wish-making clauses in Polish.
Why do we use the accusative w ten przesąd instead of the locative case?
In Polish, the verb wierzyć (to believe) paired with the preposition w always takes the accusative case when it means believing in a concept, a person, or a superstition. You only use the locative with w if you are describing the physical location where the believing takes place.
Why does the verb padało take the neuter ending -ło?
Verbs describing the weather, like padać (to rain), are impersonal in Polish. Because there is no actual subject performing the action (unlike the dummy subject "it" in English), these verbs default to the third-person singular neuter form in the past tense.
How does using oby change the sentence compared to saying "I hope that..."?
If you used the standard phrase mam nadzieję, że (I hope that), you would need the future tense: mam nadzieję, że dzisiaj nie będzie padać. Using oby makes the wish feel a bit more spontaneous and emotive, and it structurally forces the verb into the past tense.