(the) two of us

[dewylotus]

I am getting kinda confused with the words: two of us, the two of us.

Two of us, I think it indicates that the group has more than two people ,let's say ten. So it amounts to two out of our ten people.
The two of us, it indicates the group has only two people, we both, both of us.

Is my understanding right? Many thanks.

 

[entangledbank]

Yes, that sounds about right: 'the' defines a known group; the fact that there are (just) two of us is already known in the situation, so we can say 'the two of us', like 'the sandwich' or 'the two sandwiches' (which I mentioned earlier, or which we can see here). 'Two of us' picks out some two, like 'two sandwiches' picks out two from all the sandwiches in the world, and now, having mentioned us or them, I can use 'the' after this.