Japanese Learning: How to ask “How old are you?”; Nansai desuka./Oikutsu desuka.

We have already leaned [Wh-question] in the form of noun predicate sentences.

A : Ano hito wa dare desuka : Who is that person?

B : Ano hito wa Sato-san desu : That person is Ms. Sato.

A, as a [Wh-question], is asking “Who?”. Today we are going to learn another [Wh-question], which is “How old?” (, although it’s not Wh- but How).

When you say your age or someone’s age, you need to use number. Numbers in Japanese usually are followed by a “quantifier”. For example, “five years old” is “Go sai”; “Go” is five, and “sai” is a quantifier for ages. In the combination of number and quantifier, pronunciation of numbers often changes to adapt the quantifier. Since it is difficult to remember all the combination of numbers and quantifiers, only [number+age quantifier] are shown below;

One year old : Issai (came from Ichi+sai)

Two years old : Ni sai

Three years old : San sai

Four years old : Yon sai (Don’t say “Shi sai”)

Five years old : Go sai

Six years old : Roku sai

Seven years old : Nana sai

Eight years old : Hassai (came from Hachi+sai)

Nine years old : Kyu sai (Don’t say Ku sai)

Ten years old : Jussai (Old people may say Jissai)

Nineteen years old : Juu kyuu sai

Twenty one years old : Nijuu issai

The number should continue to eighty or ninety, but let us stop here.

When you ask age, you will say;

1. Nansai desuka. (“How old are you?” with normal politeness)

2. Oikutsu desuka (How old are you? as an honorable expression)

Let us use 1. only today, because honorable expressions are to be studied later. And also note that “Anata (=you)” doesn’t appear in the question 1 and 2.

Here is an example of question and answer about age.

A : Nansai desuka. (How old are you?)

B : Kyuu sai desu. (I’m nine years old.)

Also, you can ask someone’s age;

3. Satou-san wa nansai desuka. (How old is Ms.Satou?)

Note that the construction of the 3 is as follows;

—– [subject: Satou-san] + [subject marker: wa] + [interrogative word: nansai]

+ [polite ending for present-positive:desu] + [ending particle for question; ka]

Practice and remember the followings

A : Satou-san wa nansai desuka. (How old is Ms.Satou?)

B : Satou-san wa Nijuu-issai desu. (She is twenty-one years old.)

A : Ja, Suzuki-san wa nansai desuka. (Then, how old is Mr. Suzuki?)

B : Suzuki-san mo Nijuu-issai desu. (He is also twenty-one years old.)