"十八さいです。"

Translation: I am eighteen years old.

[sophia5892]

Shouldn't this be pronounced じゅうはっさい?

[zazakoolaid]

Yes

[AngeCI]

A male TTS seems to be introduced recently and the pronunciation error happens again. Maybe the TTS is more used to kanji than kana?

[JunDenOuds]

that's not an exception. it's a actually a rule. try speaking hachisai quickly, it's then easily pronounced as hassai.
That's why there is this sign of 'tsu' in the place if you write it out in hiragana.

[sJDDv7fa]

the most common lie on the internet

[awelottta]

Actually, I was born on January 1, 1900.

[Mels182143]

I typed 19 years old and got it correct with a typo. It ain't correct, it isn't even the same number. I shouldn't have it right.

[ChadAllen99]

omg haha

[JunDenOuds]

what if this is the answer to: what is HER age? then juuhassai desu is also correct.
desu does NOT mean 'I am'

[Sword916]

Depending on the context... But still your answer should be accepted. Because japanese depends very much of the context! '-'

[Sword916]

Something we do not have here.

[AngelicaNerd]

Is 私は十八さいです correct?

[Leliel5]

yes, and necessary whenever it would be ambiguous who you are talking about. it's normal to skip the topic if it's clear from context.

[mik.santoro]

Why is it pronounced hassai instead of hachisai?

[Kris209920]

It's just an exception you need to know!

[boomerlady]

"hachisai" said quickly still sounds like "hassai" so it became a rule.

[Jim373739]

Alice Cooper teaches Japanese.

[cwaospi]

Come lookin' for this comment.

[DarknessOf2]

十八歳です。

[protostar777]

Usually 歳 is written with the simpler kanji 才

[Igaram1]

I wrote 18 instead of eighteen. Duolingo says Im wrong

[stephen_zissou]

Report it.

[Donatelo950359]

We all can guess and theorize, but it would be nice to have an actual Japanese speaker (maybe one of the developers), giving us a true educated answer, and lock the debate, and if needed to fix the exercise.

[Llynrie]

'year' and 's' were presented as separate options (with no 'years' available), but 'I am eighteen year s old' was not accepted

[CuddleShy]

It accepted it for me...

[Zazdamermou]

Duolingo pronounced: "Juuhassaidesu" or ”じゅうはっさいです”

[awelottta]

There are plenty of comments in this thread that explain this. 八, which is usually pronounced はち (hachi), has an exception. In 八さい, 八 is pronounced はっ (small っ).

[AngeCI]

A male TTS seems to be introduced recently and the pronunciation error happens again. Maybe the TTS is more used to kanji than kana?

[LiamFinnley]

I wrote 12 years old and it was counted as correct