How to Ask and Answer “How Old Are You?” in Japanese

Hi, I am Shingo SATO, a native speaker with more than 10 years of experience teaching Japanese.

With this post, I aim to help you understand how to ask and answer “How old are you?” in Japanese.

In conclusion, you can say, “何歳なんさいですか?（Nansai desu ka?）” or “いくつですか?（Ikutsu desu ka?）” to ask, and “〜歳さいです（〜sai desu.）” to answer.

Please read on for more detail.

How to Ask “How Old Are You?” in Japanese

The basic expressions for asking how old someone is are as follows.

1. 何歳なんさいですか?（Nansai desu ka?）
2. いくつですか?（Ikutsu desu ka?）

Both expressions mean “How old are you?”

Let us take a closer look.

何歳（なんさい）ですか?（Nansai desu ka?）

“何歳なんさいですか?（Nansai desu ka?）” is one of the most common expressions used when asking about age. In a casual speech style, you can also ask, “”何歳なんさい?（Nansai?）”

	Rome-ji	Politeness
何歳なんさいですか?	Nansai desu ka?	★★☆
何歳なんさいですか?	Nansai?	★☆☆

いくつですか?（Ikutsu desu ka?）

“いくつですか?（Ikutsu desu ka?）” can also be used to ask about age. To be polite, you can say “おいくつですか?（Oikutsu desu ka?）” . “いくつ?（Ikutsu?）” is also used in casual speech style. “いくつ（ikutsu）” is originally an interrogative to ask about number.

	Rome-ji	Politeness
おいくつですか?	Oikutsu desu ka?	★★★
いくつですか?	Ikutsu desu ka?	★★☆
いくつ?	Ikutsu?	★☆☆

You can also read the following post to understand the sentence pattern used to ask about age.

【interrogative expressions】ですか?

How to Answer “How Old Are You?” in Japanese

You can use “〜歳さいです（〜sai desu）to answer “How old are you?” in Japanese. For example, if you are 22 years old, you can say “22歳さいです（Nijuu ni sai desu）”. Basically, just add “歳さいです（sai desu）” after the number.

However, if the last digit of the age is 1, 8, or 0, you need to be careful how you say it, unless you are 100 years old. For example, if you are 21 years old, you say “にじゅういっさいです（Nijuu issai desu）”, not “にじゅういちさいです”.

So, here are how you say your age in Japanese. There are so many, but at first, learn how to say your age; it shouldn’t be too difficult to remember just one.

Numbers	Ages	Rome-ji
1	いっさい	issai
2	にさい	ni sai
3	さんさい	san sai
4	よんさい	yon sai
5	ごさい	go sai
6	ろくさい	roku sai
7	ななさい	nana sai
8	はっさい	hassai
9	きゅうさい	kyuu sai
10	じゅっさい	jussai
11	じゅういっさい	juu issai
12	じゅうにさい	juuni sai
13	じゅうさんさい	juusan sai
14	じゅうよんさい	juuyon sai
15	じゅうごさい	juugo sai
16	じゅうろくさい	juuroku sai
17	じゅうななさい	juunana sai
18	じゅうはっさい	juuhassai
19	じゅうきゅうさい	juukyuu sai
20	にじゅっさい はたち	nijussai hatachi
30	さんじゅっさい	sanjussai
40	よんじゅっさい	yonjussai
50	ごじゅっさい	gojussai
60	ろくじゅっさい	rokujussai
70	ななじゅっさい	nanajussai
80	はちじゅっさい	hachijussai
90	きゅうじゅっさい	kyuujussai
100	ひゃくさい	hyaku sai

It is not written for each one over 21 years old, but you can combine the wording in this table. For example, if you are 38 years old, say “さんじゅうはっさいです（sanjuu hassai desu）,” and if you are 59 years old, say “ごじゅうきゅうさいです（gojuu kyuu sai desu）.”

If you want to check how to say your age, please comment on this post and I’ll help you.

Asking about Age in Japan

In Japan, it is not absolutely taboo to ask about age. Therefore, you may have more chances to be asked how old you are than in cultures where you are not allowed to ask someone’s age.

One reason for this is that there are cases where people use different styles of Japanese depending on the age of the person they are speaking to. For example, if the person you are speaking to is older than you, you would speak in a polite style; if they are the same age or younger, you would speak in a normal style.

In my case (as a native speaker), I rarely ask the age of someone I meet for the first time. Basically, I speak in a polite style regardless of their age. If the person is obviously a child, I will speak in a normal style without asking the age.

Conclusion

With this post, I have shared how to ask and answer “How old are you?” in Japanese.

In conclusion, you can say, “何歳なんさいですか?（Nansai desu ka?）” or “いくつですか?（Ikutsu desu ka?）” to ask.

And you can say “〜歳さいです（〜sai desu.）” to answer. Basically, just add “歳さいです（sai desu）” after the number. However, if the last digit of the age is 1, 8, or 0, you need to be careful how you say it, unless you are 100 years old.

I hope this post will help you to ask and answer about your age in Japanese.