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El chico tiene veintiún años.

El chico tiene veintiún años.
The boy is twenty-one years old.
From Lesson 41:Compound numbers up to 99 (veintiuno, treinta y uno)·Spanish (Spain)

Breakdown of El chico tiene veintiún años.

el chico
the boy
tener
to have
el año
the year
veintiuno
twenty-one

Questions & Answers about El chico tiene veintiún años.

Why does the sentence use veintiún instead of veintiuno?
The number 21 is normally veintiuno. However, when it comes directly before a masculine noun like años (years), it drops the final -o and becomes veintiún.
Why does veintiún have an accent mark?
Dropping the -o changes the spelling, but Spanish wants to keep the spoken emphasis on that final syllable. To ensure you still stress that part of the word when speaking, a written accent mark is added to the ú.
Why is 21 written as one single word here?
In Spanish, all numbers from 21 to 29 are written as a single combined word (for example, veinte plus uno becomes veintiuno). It is only from 31 upwards that they are split into separate words linked by y (and), like treinta y uno.
Why does it say tiene (has) instead of es (is) for his age?
In English we say someone is a certain age, but in Spanish, people have years. You use the verb tener (to have). So, tiene veintiún años literally translates to "he has twenty-one years".

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