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La famiglia ha cinque figli.

La famiglia ha cinque figli.
The family has five children.
From Lesson 21:Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)·Italian

Breakdown of La famiglia ha cinque figli.

avere
to have
il figlio
son
la famiglia
family
cinque
five

Questions & Answers about La famiglia ha cinque figli.

Does cinque change its ending depending on whether the noun is masculine or feminine?
No. In Italian, the numbers from 2 to 10 (and most other numbers) never change their endings. You say cinque figli for masculine and cinque figlie for feminine. The only exception you will see is the number one (uno).
The translation says "children". Doesn't bambini mean children?
Figli specifically means children in the sense of sons and daughters. Bambini means children in the sense of young kids. Since this sentence is about the family's own offspring, figli is the correct word.
Why do we use the singular verb ha if a family consists of multiple people?
Even though a family has many members, the word famiglia is a single grammatical thing. Because there is only one family being talked about here, we use the singular verb ha (has), not the plural hanno (have).
Both famiglia and figli contain the letters "gli". How do I pronounce that?
The gli sound is a special Italian sound. It sounds very close to the "lli" in the English word "million." The "g" is silent. You make the sound by pressing the middle of your tongue against the roof of your mouth.

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