Breakdown of Czy możemy dostać zniżkę na bilety?
czy
[question particle]
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
bilet
ticket
móc
to be able to
dostać
to get
zniżka
the discount
Questions & Answers about Czy możemy dostać zniżkę na bilety?
This lesson focuses on polite requests with chciałbym / chciałabym (I would like). Why does this sentence use możemy (can we) instead?
While you can say chciałbym dostać zniżkę (I would like to get a discount), phrasing it as a question with czy możemy (can we) is just another very natural, polite way to ask. If you wanted to use the "we would like" form instead, you would use chcielibyśmy (for a mixed group) or chciałybyśmy (for an all-female group).
Why is the word for discount spelled zniżkę here instead of zniżka?
Because it is the direct object of the verb dostać (to get). This means it takes the Accusative case. Feminine nouns that end in -a in their basic form change that -a to -ę in the Accusative.
Why do we use na for "on the tickets"?
While na physically means "on" (like a book on a table), it is also the standard preposition to use with zniżka to say what the discount applies to. It is followed by the Accusative case here, and since bilety (tickets) is an inanimate plural noun, its Accusative form is exactly the same as its basic plural form.
Could I just ask Możemy dostać zniżkę? without using Czy?
Yes, in spoken Polish you can drop Czy and just raise your pitch at the end of the sentence to show it is a question. However, starting with Czy makes the request sound a bit more formal and polite, which is a good idea when asking a stranger for a favor!
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