Breakdown of Ему будет восемьдесят лет, и это будет самая счастливая старость.
это
this / it is
и
and
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
год
year
быть
to be
счастливый
happy
восемьдесят
eighty
самый
most
старость
old age
Questions & Answers about Ему будет восемьдесят лет, и это будет самая счастливая старость.
Why do we use ему instead of он for 'he will be'?
In Russian, age is expressed using the Dative case. The structure literally translates to 'to him will be eighty years'. Ему is the Dative form of он (he).
Why is the verb будет used for 'will be eighty'?
When expressing age in the future, Russian treats the phrase impersonally. Instead of saying 'he will be', you are essentially saying 'to him it will be'. This is why you use the 3rd-person singular будет, just like you use the neuter past tense было when saying 'he was eighty'.
Why is the word for 'years' лет instead of года?
The word for 'year' changes depending on the number before it. After numbers ending in zero, like восемьдесят (eighty), you must use the Genitive plural form. For the word 'year', this form is uniquely лет (which historically means 'summers').
The word старость (old age) is feminine. Why does the sentence use the neuter это instead of эта?
In the phrase это будет, the word это acts as a generic 'this' or 'it'. When introducing a concept or pointing something out, this generic это always stays neuter, regardless of the gender of the noun that follows. However, the adjectives that directly describe the noun (самая счастливая) correctly change to feminine to match старость.
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