Learn Italian: Ci sono ventuno ragazze in questo gruppo. - There are twenty-one girls in this group.

Ci sono ventuno ragazze in questo gruppo.

There are twenty-one girls in this group.

Breakdown of Ci sono ventuno ragazze in questo gruppo.

in / made of (material)

Questions & Answers about Ci sono ventuno ragazze in questo gruppo.

How is the number ventuno (twenty-one) formed?

To make numbers like 21 or 28, you drop the final vowel of the "tens" word before adding uno (one) or otto (eight). So, venti (twenty) + uno (one) becomes ventuno, not "ventiuno".

Since ragazze is feminine, shouldn't it be "ventuna" instead of ventuno?

The number uno by itself changes to match feminine words, but larger numbers ending in one (like 21, 31, 41) don't have to. It is perfectly correct to just say ventuno ragazze.

Why do we say ci sono instead of just sono?

Ci sono means "there are". If you just said sono ventuno ragazze, it would mean "they are twenty-one girls". We use c'è for "there is" and ci sono for "there are".

Why is it questo gruppo if the group is full of girls?

Words like questo (this) must match the grammatical gender of the noun they are attached to. The word gruppo is masculine, so we use questo gruppo, regardless of who is inside the group!