Breakdown of Давайте разделимся, нас здесь двое, а их там четверо.
здесь
here
а
and (contrastive)
там
there
они
they
Questions & Answers about Давайте разделимся, нас здесь двое, а их там четверо.
Why do we use the Genitive pronouns нас and их instead of the Nominative мы and они?
When stating the quantity of a pronoun (saying how many of us, you, or them there are), Russian uses the Genitive case for the pronoun. You can think of it as literally saying 'of us there are two' and 'of them there are four.'
Why use the collective numerals двое and четверо instead of the standard numbers два and четыре?
This is a strict rule in Russian: you must use collective numerals (двое, трое, четверо, etc.) instead of standard numbers when quantifying the personal pronouns мы, вы, and они. Saying нас два or их четыре would be grammatically incorrect.
Why is Давайте paired with the future tense verb разделимся instead of an infinitive?
When forming a 'Let's...' command with a perfective verb (a completed, one-time action like splitting up), you use давай or давайте plus the 'we' form of the future tense. You only use the infinitive after давайте if the verb is imperfective.
What role does the -ся ending play in разделимся?