Ja wolę kawę, a ona woli herbatę.

I

Breakdown of Ja wolę kawę, a ona woli herbatę.

• ona: she
• kawa: the coffee
• herbata: the tea

Questions & Answers about Ja wolę kawę, a ona woli herbatę.

Why is it wolę in the first part and woli in the second part?

Because the verb changes depending on the subject.

The dictionary form is woleć = to prefer.

In the present tense:

• ja wolę = I prefer
• ty wolisz = you prefer
• on/ona/ono woli = he/she/it prefers
• my wolimy = we prefer
• wy wolicie = you all prefer
• oni/one wolą = they prefer

So:

• ja wolę matches I
• ona woli matches she

Why is ja included? I thought Polish often drops subject pronouns.

That is true: Polish often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

So Wolę kawę already means I prefer coffee.

Here, ja is included mainly for emphasis or contrast. The sentence sets up a comparison:

• Ja wolę kawę, a ona woli herbatę.

This feels like:

• I prefer coffee, while she prefers tea.

So ja and ona help make the contrast clearer and stronger.