A two-stroke engine has a cylinder with a combustion chamber and a reciprocating piston for driving a crankshaft. Transfer passages connect the crankcase in at least one position of the piston with the combustion chamber and open by piston-controlled transfer ports into the combustion chamber. An inlet opens into the crankcase and an outlet is provided at the combustion chamber. The engine is dividable into four sectors parallel to a longitudinal cylinder axis. The transfer port of a first transfer passage is arranged in the first sector, the outlet is arranged in the second sector, the transfer port of a second transfer passage is provided in the third sector, and the inlet is arranged in the fourth sector. Within the cylinder the first and second transfer passages, at a spacing from a separation plane between cylinder and crankcase, pass together into one of the second and fourth sectors.