Beginner Lesson 5.1 – Ask and Say Age
Ask And Say Age In Chinese: How Old Are You?
Did you know there are different ways to say how old are you in Chinese, depending on the person’s age? In today’s lesson we’ll learn how to ask and say age in Chinese with the Question Word 几.
- Age: 岁
- Ask and say age in Chinese
- Question Word: 几
- Question Word: 多
VOCABULARY
| HSK | CHINESE | PINYIN | P.O.S | ENGLISH | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 岁 | suì | n. | year; age | |
| 1 | 几 | jǐ | q pr. | what number; which number | |
| 1 | 多 | duō | adv. | how much | |
| 1 | 大 | dà | adj. | big; old |
GRAMMAR
Grammar 1: Say Age in Chinese · HSK 1
suì 岁 year (old); age
You can use 岁 to ask and say age in Chinese. Here's how we say someone's age in Chinese:
someone + number + 岁
For examples:
- wǒ shíliù suì 我十六岁。 I am 16 years old
- nǐ èrshíjiǔ suì 你二十九岁。 You are 29 years old
Grammar 2: Ask Age in Chinese · HSK 1
There are many different ways to say how old are you in Chinese. Today we'll mainly learn two of them:
(1) nǐ duō dà 你多大？ how old are you
We can use “你多大？” to ask age when they are not a child, or when they are not a senior citizen.
(2) nǐ jǐ suì 你几岁？how old are you
We can use “你几岁？” to ask age when someone is a child or sometimes a teenager.
But if we are asking a person who is a senior and who we want to be polite with, here are two more appropriate ways using 您, the polite way to say 你:
- nín duō dà suìshu 您多大岁数？ how old are you
- nín duō dà niánji 您多大年纪？ how old are you
Grammar 3: Question Word 几 and 多 · HSK 1
jǐ 几 what number; which number
几 is a question pronoun. It refers to a number generally under 10, sometimes under around 15 or at the most under 20.
duō 多 how much
多 is an adverb and a question word. We can use 多 + adj. to ask a question about "how + adj."
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I had a question about the grammar that I couldn’t figure out. When you say something like 我二十六岁, why don’t you use a verb like to be (ex.: 我是二十六岁)? Does the statement of the number act as a verb in the Subject Verb Object sentence order?
When talking about age in Chinese, you don’t need to use “是” the habit that native Chinese speakers have is to say “我二十岁” (Wǒ èrshí suì).
how would i say ” whats his or his age ” is it Ta dua da?
昨夜星辰昨夜风，画楼西畔桂堂东。
身无彩凤双飞翼，心有灵犀一点通。
我六十伍岁。
你多大？我五十岁。
你多大？
我三十八岁。
我十岁！ 你几岁？
你多大？
我三十三岁。
你多大？
我四十岁。
你多大？我十七岁。
你多大?
我二十八岁
WO xing Miss Dorcus
Really Lili being such a good teacher its a gift from heaven direct to you.
Am me having you as my teacher is a precious gift.
MUCH RESPECT TO YOU TEACHER LILI
In the sentence “wo er shi yi sui” in the video, why the tone of yi is not following the yi tone rule which is second tone if it followed by a fourth tone and sui has a fourth tone?
你多大?
我420岁
is duo or duoshao
多少 also means “how much”。 It can be used when asking the price of something， like 这个多少钱。
是的。duoshao 多少 wouldnt be used in asking age, i can’t remember if you can also use it for “how many” but definitely dor how much. Also note not to be confused with 小 which is very similar and means small or tiny