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Mi abuelo tiene ochenta años y mi abuela tiene noventa.

Mi abuelo tiene ochenta años y mi abuela tiene noventa.
My grandfather is eighty years old and my grandmother is ninety.
From Lesson 53:Numbers 30 to 1000 (treinta, cien, mil)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Mi abuelo tiene ochenta años y mi abuela tiene noventa.

Why does the sentence use "tiene" instead of a word for "is"?
In Spanish, you don't "be" an age; you "have" years. To say "is eighty years old", you use the verb tener (to have) and say tiene ochenta años (literally "has eighty years").
Are the words for 80 and 90 related to the words for 8 and 9?
Yes! Ochenta (80) comes from ocho (8). Noventa (90) comes from nueve (9). Notice how they both end in -enta, which is used for the tens in Spanish, much like "-ty" is used in English (eighty, ninety).
Why did the spelling change from "nueve" (9) to "noventa" (90)?
When creating the tens, the ue sound in nueve changes to a simple o in noventa. It is a very common beginner mistake to say "nueventa", so always remember to use the o for ninety!
Why doesn't it say "tiene noventa años" at the end?
Just like in English where you can say "my grandmother is ninety" without repeating "years old", you can simply say tiene noventa in Spanish if it is already obvious you are talking about age.

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