Breakdown of On ma jeden telefon, a ona dwa.
on
he / it (m)
ona
she / it (f)
mieć
to have
telefon
phone
a
and / whereas (contrast)
jeden
one
dwa
two
Questions & Answers about On ma jeden telefon, a ona dwa.
Why do we use jeden here instead of jedno or jedna?
The number for "one" changes to match the gender of the noun it describes. Telefon is a masculine noun, so we use the masculine form jeden. If we were talking about a feminine noun, it would be jedna.
Why is the word for "two" dwa here? Does it change based on gender too?
The translation uses "and", so why is the Polish word a instead of i?
In Polish, i is used to simply add things together. The word a is used when you are comparing or contrasting two different things. It acts a bit like "whereas" or "while" in English. Since we are contrasting what he has with what she has, a is the right choice.
Why are the words for "has" and "phones" missing at the end of the sentence?
Just like in English, Polish often drops words that are already obvious from the context so you do not sound repetitive. The full thought is a ona ma dwa telefony, but dropping the verb and the noun makes the sentence much more natural.
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