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Ho un sacco di guai.

Ho un sacco di guai.
I have a lot of trouble.
From Lesson 229:Pejorative suffixes (-accio, -accia)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Ho un sacco di guai.

What does un sacco di literally mean?
It literally translates to "a sack of" or "a bag of." In everyday Italian, it is a very common, informal way to say "a lot of" or "a ton of," used just like molto or tanto.
Why is it guai (plural) when the English translation says "trouble" (singular)?
In English, "trouble" is generally treated as an uncountable noun, so we just say "a lot of trouble." In Italian, guaio (a trouble or mess) is a countable noun. Since you have "a sack of" them here, it must take the plural form: guai.
What is the singular form of guai, and how does its plural spelling work?
The singular is guaio. As a quick reminder from earlier lessons, when a masculine noun ends in an unstressed -io, the plural form just drops the final -o rather than adding a second -i. So it becomes guai, not guaii.
Since this lesson is about the pejorative suffix -accio, could I say guaiacci to mean really bad trouble?
While the word guaiaccio technically exists, it is very rare and sounds unnatural in modern conversation. Not all nouns take these suffixes naturally, and guaio already carries a strong negative meaning! If an Italian wants to emphasize how bad the trouble is, they will usually just add an adjective, such as grossi guai (big trouble) or guai seri (serious trouble).

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