Which one should you use?
età is used for the general concept of age. However, if you are expressing a specific number of years, you should use 'anni' instead of età.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
Because età begins with a vowel, the feminine definite article 'la' is elided to 'l’' in the singular form, appearing as 'l’età'.
How do you pronounce it?
/eˈta/
What mistakes should you avoid?
In Italian, you must use the verb 'avere' (to have) when stating how many years old someone is.
When do people say it?
When asking for someone's age, the level of formality is important. To ask someone's age informally, you can say Quanti anni hai? or Che età hai? In formal situations, use Quanti anni ha? If you wish to be very respectful, you can use the phrase Mi scusi, posso chiederle quanti anni ha? To respond to questions about age, you can say Ho X anni (I am X years old) or Sono nato/a nel 19XX (I was born in 19XX).
Did you know?
- The Italian expression non avere età is used to describe a person who remains youthful in spirit or a piece of art that never goes out of style.
- The word età is a direct descendant of the Latin word aetātem, which is the root of the English word 'age'.
- In legal or official Italian documents, you will often see data di nascita (date of birth) used instead of età because age changes every year while the date remains constant.
Examples in context
- Ho la tua età.I'm your age.This sentence demonstrates how to say you are the same age as someone using età.Tatoeba #5829327 by Guybrush88, translation #5829209 by CK
- Ha la sua età.He's her age.This sentence shows how to state that someone is the same age as a female person using età.Tatoeba #8573640 by Guybrush88, translation #8537092 by CH
- Avevo la tua età.I was your age.This sentence is useful for expressing what your age was in the past using età.Tatoeba #3003885 by Guybrush88, translation #1410127 by al_ex_an_der
- Scusi, quanti anni ha?Excuse me, how old are you?
- Mi scusi, posso chiederle quanti anni ha?Excuse me, may I ask how old you are?
- Ciao Marco, quanti anni hai?Hi Marco, how old are you?
- Ragazzi, che età avete?Guys, what age do you have?
- 592 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Giulia and Matteo are talking about a new student.
- GiuliaQual è l'età del nuovo studente?What is the new student's age?
- MatteoNon lo so, sembra molto giovane.I don't know, he seems very young.
- GiuliaHa un'età simile alla nostra.He is around our age.
- MatteoForse hai ragione, Giulia.Maybe you are right, Giulia.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “age” translations and entries età, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries età, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
