Abans dels anta (quaranta, cinquanta, seixanta...) res no espanta, però en arribar als anta ja es decanta. 'Before the anta (forty, fifty, sixty…) nothing scares you, but once you reach the anta one starts going down.'
Reveal the word
In Catalan, the suffix for the tens is -anta but not for ten, twenty and thirty. The saying means that till that age you are strong after reaching the age of forty you start to decline.