Learn Croatian: Ti imaš jedan kišobran, a on ima dva. - You have one umbrella, and he has two.

Ti imaš jedan kišobran, a on ima dva.

You have one umbrella, and he has two.

Breakdown of Ti imaš jedan kišobran, a on ima dva.

Questions & Answers about Ti imaš jedan kišobran, a on ima dva.

Why is a used here instead of i to mean and?

In Croatian, a is used to show a contrast between two things, similar to whereas or but in English. Because we are contrasting what you have with what he has, we use a instead of the regular word for and (i).

Why does this sentence include the pronouns ti and on? Doesn't Croatian usually drop them?

You are right that pronouns are usually dropped! However, when we are directly comparing or contrasting two different people (you versus him), we keep the pronouns to add emphasis.

Why is the number one written as jedan here?

The number one behaves like an adjective in Croatian, meaning it changes to match the gender of the noun it describes. Since kišobran (umbrella) is a masculine word, we use the masculine form jedan.

If we were talking about a feminine object instead of an umbrella, would the word for two (dva) change?

Yes, it would. The number two also changes based on gender. We use dva for masculine and neuter things, which is why it is used here for the masculine umbrella. If we were counting feminine things, we would use dvije instead.