Learn Italian: Ho novant'anni e le mie ossa sono deboli. - I am ninety years old and my bones are weak.

Ho novant'anni e le mie ossa sono deboli.

I am ninety years old and my bones are weak.

Breakdown of Ho novant'anni e le mie ossa sono deboli.

Questions & Answers about Ho novant'anni e le mie ossa sono deboli.

Why is it le ossa when words ending in -a are usually singular?

Ossa is an irregular plural! The singular word for bone is l'osso, which is masculine. However, like several other body parts in Italian, it becomes feminine in the plural and changes its ending to -a, making it le ossa.

Because ossa is feminine plural, why does the adjective deboli end in -i?

The adjective for weak is debole in the singular. Adjectives that end in -e in the singular always change to -i in the plural, regardless of whether the noun is masculine or feminine. So, debole becomes deboli to agree with the plural noun le ossa.

Why is there an apostrophe in novant'anni?

Novant'anni is a combination of novanta (ninety) and anni (years). Because novanta ends in a vowel and anni begins with one, the final -a is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe to make pronunciation smoother.

Why does the sentence start with ho (I have) instead of sono (I am) to talk about age?

This is a quick reminder that in Italian, you don't say you are a certain age. Instead, you say you have a certain number of years. That is why we use the verb avere (to have) instead of essere (to be).