Breakdown of W maju moja siostra pracuje, a w lipcu ma urlop.
mieć
to have
pracować
to work
a
and / whereas (contrast)
siostra
sister
Questions & Answers about W maju moja siostra pracuje, a w lipcu ma urlop.
Why do the months change to maju and lipcu here?
To say "in a certain month", Polish uses the preposition w (in) followed by a grammatical form called the Locative case. The basic dictionary words are maj (May) and lipiec (July). The Locative endings change them to maju and lipcu.
Why does lipiec lose its "e" when it becomes lipcu?
This is because of a rule often called the "fleeting e". In many Polish words ending in "-ec" or "-ek", the letter "e" drops out when we add a grammatical ending. This makes the word easier to pronounce, so lipiec becomes lipcu instead of "lipiecu".
The English translation says "and in July", but the sentence uses a. Isn't the word for "and" usually i?
Polish uses two different words for "and". We use i simply to link things together. We use a when we want to show a contrast or a shift in focus between two situations. Because the speaker is contrasting working in May with resting in July, a is the best choice here.
Does the word urlop need to be in a special case because it follows the verb ma?
Yes, because it is the object of the action, it is in the Accusative case. However, for non-living masculine nouns like urlop (vacation/leave), the Accusative form is exactly the same as the basic dictionary form. Therefore, its spelling doesn't change.