Beginner Lesson 5.1 – Ask and Say Age

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."