Questions & Answers about Mamy pięćdziesiąt pięć lat.
Why do we use mamy (we have) instead of a word for 'we are'?
In Polish, you don't 'be' an age, you 'have' years. Instead of saying 'We are 55', you literally say 'We have 55 years'. Mamy is the 'we' form of the verb mieć (to have).
Why is the word for years lat here, and not lata?
The word for 'years' changes depending on the last digit of the number. For 2, 3, and 4 (and numbers ending in them, like 22 or 54), you use lata. But for 5 and above, as well as zero and the teens, you must use lat. Because this number ends in 5 (pięć), we use lat.
Where is the word for 'we' in this sentence?
In Polish, the verb ending usually tells you who is doing the action. Because mamy already means 'we have', you don't need to include the pronoun my (we) unless you want to add special emphasis.
How do you build a double-digit number like pięćdziesiąt pięć?
It works exactly like English! You just say the tens word (pięćdziesiąt, meaning fifty) followed by the ones word (pięć, meaning five), with a space in between.