Breakdown of Jeśli jutro będzie padać, będzie nam zimno.
być
to be
jutro
tomorrow
jeśli
if
nam
us (dative)
padać
to rain / to fall (of snow, hail)
zimno
cold (adverb)
Questions & Answers about Jeśli jutro będzie padać, będzie nam zimno.
Why does the Polish sentence say będzie padać (will rain) when the English translation says "If it rains"?
In English, we use the present tense after "if" when talking about the future ("If it rains tomorrow"). Polish is more strictly logical: if the condition is going to happen in the future, you must use the future tense after jeśli. So, the Polish sentence literally says "If it will rain tomorrow...".
Can I use jeżeli instead of jeśli at the start of this sentence?
Yes, absolutely! Jeśli and jeżeli both mean "if" and are completely interchangeable in conditional sentences like this one. Jeśli is just a little shorter and slightly more common in everyday spoken Polish.
Why is the word for "we" (nam) in the dative case here? Why not just use my?
In Polish, physical sensations like being cold, warm, or comfortable are expressed using the verb "to be" plus a pronoun in the dative case (the "to whom" case) and an adverb. Nam means "to us". Literally, the second half of the sentence translates to "it will be cold to us". If you used the basic pronoun and said my będziemy zimni, it would mean your bodies are physically cold to the touch!
I've learned to form the future tense using past-tense verb endings. Could I say będzie padało instead of będzie padać?
Yes, you can! To make the future tense of an ongoing (imperfective) verb in Polish, you use the future form of "to be" (będzie) and add either the infinitive (padać) OR the third-person past tense form (padało). Both are perfectly correct and mean the exact same thing.
Learn Jeśli jutro będzie padać, będzie nam zimno and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free