Breakdown of Oni mają sześć, a my tylko dwa.
mieć
to have
oni
they (masculine personal)
my
we
a
and / whereas (contrast)
tylko
only
dwa
two
sześć
six
Questions & Answers about Oni mają sześć, a my tylko dwa.
Why does the sentence use a for "and" instead of i?
In Polish, i is used to simply add things together. The word a is used to show a contrast or comparison between two things, often translating to "while", "but", or "and (on the other hand)". Here, it highlights the difference between what they have and what we have.
The word for "two" changes depending on gender. Why do we use dwa here?
The form dwa is the default form for the number two, used for masculine things, animals, and neuter nouns. When the noun isn't mentioned in the sentence, dwa acts as the basic counting form. If we were talking specifically about women, it would be dwie, and for groups with men, dwaj or dwóch.
Why are the pronouns oni (they) and my (we) included? Doesn't Polish usually drop them?
Yes, Polish normally drops subject pronouns because the verb ending tells you who is doing the action. However, when we want to emphasize a contrast, like "They have six, while we have only two", we keep the pronouns to make that contrast strong.
Why isn't the verb for "have" repeated in the second half of the sentence?
Just like in English, you don't need to repeat the verb mieć (to have) if it is already understood from the first half of the sentence. You could say a my mamy tylko dwa, but leaving mamy out sounds natural and avoids repetition.
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