Polite Way to Ask “ How old are you? ” : 몇살 몇 연령, 숙박 년

I will probably go with “연락처 나이를 물어해도 될까요? “if I had to ask the age of some stranger or customer etc. If the other person is a female, I might throw in”대단히 죄송하지만 “before the question. It is considered impolite to ask a female her age in Japan. If you have to ask for whatever reason, you are expected to take extra care.

If you are asking an acquaintance “몇 살이세요?”or “몇살 이신 건가요?”will be more natural. You should use 몇살 이신 건가요 if you think the other person is senior than you. 몇 살입니까? 몇살 이신 건가요 is also appropriate in this situation.

나이 is not commonly used to form questions, perhaps because it is a bit formal or even a bit bureaucratic. A police officer or something could ask 나이 를 가르쳐 주시겠습니까? 내 나이는? and so on. It is frequently used in formal situations, as in 국민의 평균 연령은 or 연령이 높은 층의 평균 저축액은 X 만엔이었다 etc.

Finally, when you address an young child, you can say なんさい? or 몇?

Comments

• +1 Very nice concrete examples

몇입니까?

몇 is not normally spelled with kanji. Also, this is actually asking How many?To ask for someone “s age, you should use the honorific form : 문의 몇 개입니까? This is the standard way.

몇 살입니까?

This is direct, but still in the polite form.

나이는?

This is direct and also informal. I can “t imagine many situations where this would be appropriate. Maybe if you”re asking a child what their age is.

나이는?

I can “t say I”ve ever seen this before …

Comments

• 幾つ is ' how many ' not ' how much ' The latter is 幾ら or いくら Although お makes difference in politeness, it does not make difference in grammaticality. It is just that since the rest is in polite form (です), it is strange not to have the お
• " Maybe if you ' re asking a child what their age is " Side note : for children, it ' s common to ask for a school grade instead of age, so “몇 학년? “can work for”몇 살? “(But then you have to mentally convert from the 6-3-3 grading system to actual age, of course. 🙂
• @Derek Are there repeats in the Japanese school system too?
• “몇 살이세요”does not sound polite at all. In fact, native speakers rarely say it. it is the J-learners who say it constantly.
• @ 비 응답자 몇살? / 몇 살입니까? is the only way school children have ever asked me my age. It also seems to be the most common way I ' ve been asked by people in their teens and 20s. After that 하시고 몇입니까 seems to become the default. That ' s been my experience, at least.