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I portaombrelli sono rotti a causa del vento.

I portaombrelli sono rotti a causa del vento.
The umbrella stands are broken because of the wind.
From Lesson 267:Plural compound nouns·Italian

Questions & Answers about I portaombrelli sono rotti a causa del vento.

Why doesn't the ending of portaombrelli change in the plural?
Portaombrelli is a compound noun made of a verb (porta, from portare, to hold) and a masculine plural noun (ombrelli, umbrellas). When a compound noun is formed by a verb and a plural noun, it is invariable. This means the word itself doesn't change in the plural; only the article changes, from il portaombrelli (the singular umbrella stand) to i portaombrelli (the plural umbrella stands).
Since the noun itself doesn't change, how do we show that there is more than one umbrella stand in this sentence?
The surrounding words do the heavy lifting! We use the plural definite article i instead of the singular il, the plural verb sono instead of è, and the plural adjective rotti instead of rotto.
Could I use perché instead of a causa di to say "because of the wind"?
No, perché means "because" and must be followed by a subject and a verb (for example, "because the wind was blowing"). When you want to say "because of" followed by just a noun phrase (like il vento), you need to use a causa di. Here, di combines with il to form the word del.
Where does the word rotti come from?
Rotti is the masculine plural form of rotto, which is the irregular past participle of the verb rompere (to break). Here it acts as an adjective describing the umbrella stands, so its ending changes to match them in gender and number.

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