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Il settimo e l'ottavo libro sono nuovi.

Il settimo e l'ottavo libro sono nuovi.
The seventh and eighth books are new.
From Lesson 55:Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)·Italian

Breakdown of Il settimo e l'ottavo libro sono nuovi.

essere
to be
e
and
il libro
book
nuovo
new
settimo
seventh
ottavo
eighth

Questions & Answers about Il settimo e l'ottavo libro sono nuovi.

Why is the noun libro singular when the English translation says "books"?
In Italian, when you use ordinal numbers with separate articles to talk about individual items (literally "the seventh and the eighth book"), the noun usually stays singular. English often groups them into the plural "books", but Italian treats them as distinct single items within the phrase.
If libro is singular, why do we use the plural verb sono and the plural adjective nuovi?
Even though the word libro is singular, you are talking about two books in total! The complete subject is "the seventh book and the eighth book". Since there is more than one book overall, the verb must be the plural sono (are) and the adjective must be the plural nuovi (new).
Why does ottavo have l' in front of it instead of il?
Ottavo (eighth) starts with a vowel. Because it acts as an adjective before the masculine noun libro, it takes the masculine article lo. As a quick reminder from earlier lessons, whenever lo is placed before a vowel, it drops its "o" and becomes l'.
Do ordinal numbers like settimo always end in "-o"?
No, ordinal numbers act exactly like regular adjectives. They change their endings to match the gender and number of the noun they describe. If they described a feminine singular noun like mela (apple), they would become la settima and l'ottava. Here, they end in "-o" to match the masculine singular libro.

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