Breakdown of Tobie radzę odpoczywać, a jemu pracować.
pracować
to work
a
and / whereas (contrast)
odpoczywać
to rest
radzić
to advise
Questions & Answers about Tobie radzę odpoczywać, a jemu pracować.
Why are we using Tobie and jemu here instead of the shorter ci and mu?
Because this sentence makes a strong contrast between what I advise YOU and what I advise HIM. When we want to emphasize a pronoun or contrast it with another person, we must use the long (emphatic) forms like Tobie and jemu. If there was no contrast and you just wanted to say 'I advise you to rest', you would normally use the short form: radzę ci odpoczywać.
Why are the pronouns in the Dative case in the first place?
The verb radzić (to advise) always requires the Dative case for the person receiving the advice. Think of it as giving advice to someone.
The English translation says 'and HIM to work'. Why use a instead of i for 'and'?
In Polish, a is used when you are contrasting two different situations or people. Because we are contrasting your instructions (resting) with his instructions (working), a is the perfect word here. The word i is used for simply grouping similar things together without contrast.
Is it grammatically correct to leave out the verb before jemu pracować?
Yes! Just like in English, it is very common to drop a repeated verb so the sentence sounds more natural. The full idea is Tobie radzę odpoczywać, a jemu radzę pracować. By leaving out the second radzę, the sentence flows much better.