Breakdown of Twój brat ma jedenaście czy siedemnaście lat?
mieć
to have
brat
brother
twój
your
rok
year
jedenaście
eleven
czy
or (in alternative questions)
siedemnaście
seventeen
Questions & Answers about Twój brat ma jedenaście czy siedemnaście lat?
Why do we use Twój here instead of Twoja?
Twój means "your" and we use it here because brat (brother) is a masculine noun. If you were asking about a sister, you would use the feminine form: Twoja siostra.
Why does the sentence use the verb ma (has) instead of the verb "to be"?
In Polish, you express age by saying someone "has" a certain number of years, not that they "are" that age. Ma means "he/she/it has". Literally, this translates to "Does your brother have eleven or seventeen years?"
I thought czy was used at the beginning of a yes/no question. Why is it in the middle here?
While czy is used to start yes/no questions, it also means "or" when you are offering a choice between two options in a question. Since this sentence is asking for a choice between two ages, czy connects the two options.
Can I start this sentence with Czy to show it is a question?
Why is the word for years lat instead of lata?
Numbers change the form of the noun that follows them. For all teen numbers like jedenaście (11) and siedemnaście (17), you must use the genitive plural form of the noun. The genitive plural of "year" is lat.
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