Ways to say it
| Mandarin | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 年歲 / 年岁 | niánsuì |
| 年紀 / 年纪 | niánjì |
| 年齡 / 年龄 | niánlíng |
In Mandarin, different words are used to denote the amount of time since a being was born or since a thing began. When asking about age, you do not typically use these nouns directly. Instead, you use 幾歲 to ask how many years of age someone is (usually for children or peers) or 多大 to ask how old someone is in casual conversation (often used for adults). In casual speech, you can state your age using the structure 我X了 or more popularly with 我X岁啦. Another informal way to indicate you have reached or changed a certain age is by saying 我今年X了. It is also common to omit the subject pronoun when the context is clear, such as saying 二十五岁了 instead of 我二十五岁了.
Which one should you use?
The terms differ in tone and context. 年齡 / 年龄 is the most formal and standard term, used in official contexts like IDs, forms or medical and scientific discussions. 年歲 / 年岁 has a more literary or formal feel and is often used when describing the passage of years or discussing the elderly in a respectful or descriptive manner.
Related words
How do you pronounce it?
niánsuì
Did you know?
- In traditional Chinese culture, some people calculate their age using the 'nominal age' system, where a person is considered one year old at birth and gains a year every Lunar New Year.
- The character 歲 / 岁 originally referred to a 'harvest' or the 'end of a year' in ancient agricultural records.
- When referring to an elderly person, it is polite to use the term 高壽 rather than asking for their 年齡. This phrase literally means 'high longevity' and shows respect for their long life.
Examples in context
- 我今年二十五岁I am 25 years old
- 我二十五岁了I'm already 25 years old.
- 我二十五岁啦I'm 25 years old!
- 我今年二十五了I turned 25 this year.
- 我二十五了I'm 25 now.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “age” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
