Hello Everyone,

In today’s lesson we are going to see how to ask someone’s age in Japanese, and how to answer the question. Let’s go!

Pre-Requisites:

• Numbers

How old are you?

To ask someone how old she/he is, let’s say Alice for instance, you will say:

Another way to ask for someone’s age is to use いくつ [ikutsu] /how much/:

(Note: The お in お歳 is an honorific and is optional)
(Note: Age (とし) can also be written using the kanji 歳)

Or more casually:

Kanji time

The kanji to count years of age (and also meaning age, year-end, opportunity or talent) is: 歳 (さい) [toshi, tose, yowai, SAI, SEI]. Yes, in addition to its many different meaning possibilities it has 13 strokes; it’s quite a complex kanji.

Happily, there exists another kanji that can be used to count years of age: 才 (さい) [SAI]. Less litterate, but far more simple ^^

As noted too, the kanji 歳 and 年, when meaning age (read とし), are interchangeable.

I am …

The table below presents the pronouciation for ages.

一歳	いっさい	issai	1 year of age
二歳	にさい	ni sai	2 years of age
三歳	さんさい	san sai	3 years of age
四歳	よんさい	yon sai	4 years of age
五歳	ごさい	go sai	5 years of age
六歳	ろくさい	roku sai	6 years of age
七歳	ななさい	nana sai	7 years of age
八歳	はっさい	hassai	8 years of age
九歳	きゅうさい	kyu~ sai	9 years of age
十歳	じゅっさい	jussai	10 years of age
十一歳	じゅういっさい	ju~ issai	11 years of age
…	…	…	…
二十歳	はたち	hatachi	20 years of age
二十一歳	にじゅういっさい	ni ju~ issai	21 years of age
…	…	…	…

It is to be noted that 20 has a specific reading. As 20 years was the age of majority in Japan, it is considered as a very special age.

Now, with this table in end, to tell your age you just have to say:

Let say if you are 23 years old:

Exercises

Translate the question:

 

Answer in Japanese:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, translate the question in Japanese:

Answer the question in japanese with your age 🙂

 

Here we are for todays lesson. Hope you enjoyed it!

Cheers,

Stéphane

Follow us:

• 
• 
•