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¿Tiene el chico dieciocho o diecinueve años?

¿Tiene el chico dieciocho o diecinueve años?
Is the boy eighteen or nineteen years old?
From Lesson 39:Numbers 11 to 20 (once, doce, trece)·Spanish (Spain)

Breakdown of ¿Tiene el chico dieciocho o diecinueve años?

o
or
el chico
the boy
tener
to have
el año
the year
dieciocho
eighteen
diecinueve
nineteen

Questions & Answers about ¿Tiene el chico dieciocho o diecinueve años?

The English translation says "Is the boy...", so why does the Spanish sentence use tiene?
In Spanish, you don't say that you "are" a certain age. Instead, you use the verb tener (to have) to say how many years you "have." So, ¿Tiene el chico... años? literally translates to "Does the boy have... years?"
Why are dieciocho and diecinueve written as one single word?
The numbers 16 through 19 are formed by combining diez (ten), y (and), plus the last digit. Over time, these squished into single words. So, diez y ocho became dieciocho, and diez y nueve became diecinueve.
When making dieciocho from diez, why does the "z" change to a "c"?
In Spanish spelling, a "z" almost always changes to a "c" when it comes directly before an "e" or an "i". Because the combined word uses an i instead of a y to join the numbers, the spelling changes from diez to dieci- to follow this rule.
Why does the sentence start with the verb Tiene instead of the subject el chico?
In Spanish questions, it is very common to flip the word order and put the verb before the person or thing doing the action. While ¿El chico tiene...? is also grammatically correct, starting with the verb like ¿Tiene el chico...? sounds more natural when asking a question.

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