Learn how to ask about someone's age
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| Introduction |
| Eric: Welcome to 3-Minute Chinese Season 1, Lesson 8 - Talking About Your Age. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask someone's age and how to say how old you are in Chinese. |
| Body |
| Eric: Here's the informal way to ask "How old are you?" in Chinese. |
| Cho: [Normal] 你多大了？(nǐ duō dà le?) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "you" |
| Cho: [Normal] 你 [Slow] 你 (nǐ) |
| Eric: Next is the phrase meaning "how old" |
| Cho: [Normal] 多大 [Slow] 多大(duō dà) |
| Eric: Last is the particle indicating a state. |
| Cho: [Normal] 了 [Slow] 了(le) |
| Eric: Listen again to the informal question meaning "How old are you?" |
| Cho: [Slow] 你多大了？ [Normal] 你多大了？ |
| Eric: Now, imagine you're speaking to a stranger. Here's the formal way to ask, "How old are you?" |
| Cho: [Normal] 你几岁了？(nǐ jǐ suìle?) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "you" |
| Cho: [Normal] 你 [Slow] 你 (nǐ) |
| Eric: Next is the word meaning "how many" |
| Cho: [Normal] 几 [Slow] 几(jǐ) |
| Eric: Followed by the word meaning "year-old" |
| Cho: [Normal] 岁 [Slow] 岁(suì) |
| Eric: Last is the particle indicating a state. |
| Cho: [Normal] 了 [Slow] 了(le) |
| Eric: Listen again to the formal question meaning "How old are you?" |
| Cho: [Slow] 你几岁了？ [Normal] 你几岁了？ |
| Eric: Here's a response meaning "I am 17." |
| Cho: [Normal] 我17岁。(wǒ shíqī suì.) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "I" |
| Cho: [Normal] 我 [Slow] 我(wǒ) |
| Eric: Next is the number "seventeen” |
| Cho: [Normal] 十七 [Slow] 十七(shíqī) |
| Eric: Last is the word meaning "year-old" |
| Cho: [Normal] 岁 [Slow] 岁(suì) |
| Eric: Listen again to the response meaning "I am 17." |
| Cho: [Slow] 我17岁。 [Normal] 我17岁。 |
| Eric: Here's a response meaning, "I prefer not to say." |
| Cho: [Normal] 无可奉告。(wú kě fèng gào.) |
| Eric: First is a word meaning "no" |
| Cho: [Normal] 无 [Slow] 无(wú) |
| Eric: Next is the word meaning "can,” which you can use to add emphasis. |
| Cho: [Normal] 可 [Slow] 可(kě) |
| Eric: Last is the verb meaning "to tell, to inform" |
| Cho: [Normal] 奉告 [Slow] 奉告(fèng gào) |
| Eric: Listen again to the response meaning "I prefer not to say." |
| Cho: [Slow] 无可奉告。 [Normal] 无可奉告。 |
| Cultural Insight |
| Eric: Now it's time for a quick cultural insight. |
| Cho: When we talk about numbers like telephone numbers, bus numbers and so on, we pronounce 1 as yāo. |
| For example, a bus number one-oh-one would usually be pronounced as yāo líng yāo in Chinese. You can even use yāo instead of yī meaning "number one" when saying phone numbers. Try it when you are in China! People will be impressed. |
Outro |
|---|
| Eric: And that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check out the lesson notes, and we’ll see you in the next lesson! |
| Cho: 再见。 |
Comments
HideHi Listeners! How old are you?
Hi Thu Bui!
You are correct! 🌟 "你几岁了？" (Nǐ jǐ suì le?) is typically used when asking children under 10 years old about their age. In a formal situation or when speaking to adults, it's better to use "您多大年纪了？" (Nín duō dà nián jì le?) or "您多大岁数了？" (Nín duō dà suì shu le?), which are more polite and appropriate.
Great job on being aware of the nuances in Chinese! 🎉
Let us know if you have any questions.
谢谢！(Xièxiè! "Thank you!")
Team ChineseClass101.com
Is it right to use 你几岁了？for the formal situation, as I know, it is used with children under 10 years old
Hi Rowan!
谢谢你的留言！(Xièxiè nǐ de liúyán! "Thank you for your message!") If you are introducing your age, you can say: 我二十五岁 (Wǒ èrshíwǔ suì), which means "I am 25 years old." 😊
If you have any questions, please let us know.
谢谢！
Team ChineseClass101.com
二十五岁。
Hello Seán,
Thank you for sharing with us! 😆
Let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai
Team ChineseClass101.com
无可奉告, but I'm a Mao-era baby. 😉
Hello Byron,
Thank you for your comment. Asking someone who's younger than us or of the same age "几岁了" is generally acceptable in informal context, adding 你 or 您 would be better.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai
Team ChineseClass101.com
Is it true that one should only ask children "几岁了"?
Hello Andrea,
You got it right! Good job! 😄
Keep going, and let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
我二十二岁。
Wǒ èr-shí-èr suì.
Did I get it right? 😄
你好 robert groulx,
谢谢 for posting and studying with us. If you have any questions, please let us know.😄
Kind regards,
Levente
Team ChineseClass101.com
thank you for the lesson transcript
nǐ jǐ suìle? i am 54 years old
robert
Hello Kim,
Thank you for your positive comment and sharing your insight! We're glad to hear that you're enjoying the lessons! 😄
Thank you for learning with us, as always, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
I just finished the Top 25 Questions module before I found this, and if you take that and add this it becomes a supplementary module to expand on what you learned.
Amazing!
Some words overlap, but I'm certainly not complaning because it just emphasizes the previous vocabulary words while adding new words at the same time.
(For example, this lesson ties in perfectly with the How Old Are You In Chinese Module.)
Hi John
Thanks for your post. Let us know if you have any questions.
Amy
Team ChineseClass101.com
你好，
我叫John
我十九岁！
Hi Daniel,
Great answer！?
Keep up the good work!?
Olivia
Team ChineseClass101.com
无可奉告。But I am the same age as the Innovative Language founder. ?
Hi, Efrem,
Nice answer！
Keep on working!:smile:
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
我二十六岁。
无可奉告。