“How old are you?” in Japanese: “nan sai desu ka”, explained in detail

How to say “how old are you?” in Japanese

Japanese native speakers would say “nan sai desu ka” to ask ‘how old are you?’ in Japanese. Or perhaps, they would use its polite expression, “oikutsu desu ka”. In this blog post, I will explain these expressions in detail based on their components. And also, I will explain how to use them through example sentences. Let’s get started!

Contents

• Definition and meaning of “nan sai desu ka”
• Components of “nan sai desu ka”
• Example #1: how to say “how old are you?” in Japanese
• Definition and meaning of “oikutsu desu ka”
• Components of “oikutsu”
• Example #2: how to use “oikutsu desu ka”
• Example #3: how to say “how many” in Japanese
• Summary

Definition and meaning of “nan sai desu ka”

First of all, let me start with the definition and meaning of “nan sai desu ka”.

• nan sai desu ka – 何歳ですか/何才ですか (なんさいですか) : a Japanese expression for ‘how old are you?’

As you can see here, it can be written in the two different ways. Basically, “何歳ですか” is considered more polite than “何才ですか”, but both can be used in more or less the same way.

Its definition and meaning are quite simple and clear, I think. To understand this expression more clearly, however, let me explain its components in detail, one by one.

Components of “nan sai desu ka”

Below are the components of “nan sai desu ka”.

• nan – 何 (なん) : an indefinite demonstrative pronoun meaning ‘what’ in Japanese. It is quite often used in Japanese questions.
• sai – 歳/才 (さい) : a suffix meaning ‘age’ in Japanese. Normally, it is used after a numeral or “nan” to add the meaning of “age”.
• desu – です : an auxiliary verb put after a noun, adjective, or phrase to make it polite. In this expression, it is put after the noun phrase, “nan sai”, to make it sound polite.
• ka – か : a sentence-ending particle put at the end of a sentence to make a question. As its grammatical definition suggests, it is put at the end of the expression to make the question.

From these four components, we can understand that “nan sai desu ka” is literally a polite expression for “what age?” It can be translated into English as “how old are you?”

Japanese native speakers quite often omit words referring to particular people in sentences. They consider indirect expressions more polite. In fact, the expression doesn’t contain any word referring to a particular person like “you”. So, its meaning is not really the same as “how old are you?”, but more similar to “what is the age?” It sometimes sounds even vague to Japanese learners, as they cannot clearly see who is referred to. Yet, this kind of omission always helps Japanese native speakers. They can understand who is referred to from the context, situatin, and omission. They use the omission of a word to imply it.

Then, let me explain how to use “nan sai desu ka” through the example sentence below.

Example #1: how to say “how old are you?” in Japanese

This is it. Sometimes, Japanese learners use it together with a word like “anata” to clearly refer to the target of the question.

This is also understandable, but could sound a bit weird to Japanese people. To understand this point, let me explain the new words as follows.

• anata – あなた : a pronoun meaning ‘you’ in Japanese. It can also be used by a wife to call her husband.
• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In this example, it is put after the pronoun, “anata”, to make the subject word in the sentence. Learn more about “anata wa“.

“Anata” can be understood as a pronoun meaning “you” in Japanese. But, it can also be used by a wife to call her husband. So, it can sound a bit weird to Japanese native speakers. Actually, they rarely use it in conversations. So, perhaps, they are less familiar with its usage as a pronoun than Japanese learners are. In many cases, therefore, just “nan sai desu ka” would be much better.

So far, I’ve explained the expression, “nan sai desu ka”. It would be suitable for various situations. In more formal situations, however, its polite expression would be more preferable. Next, then, let me explain it.

Definition and meaning of “oikutsu desu ka”

Below are the definition and meaning of “oikutsu desu ka”.

• oikutsu desu ka – おいくつですか : a polite expression of “nan sai desu ka” which means ‘how old are you?’ in Japanese.

When we want to ask someone’s age in a polite way in Japanese, we can say “oikutsu desu ka”. To understand it more clearly, let me explain the components of “oikutsu” in detail.

Components of “oikutsu”

From the grammatical point of view, “oikutsu” can be broken down into the following two parts.

• o – お : a prefix used to make its following word polite.
• ikutsu – いくつ : a noun widely used to mean ‘how many’, ‘how old’, or ‘what number’ in Japanese. It can be considered as an indefinite numeral.

From these two components, we can understand that “oikutsu” is a Japanese polite expression for ‘how old’. We can use it to ask someone’s age in a polite way in Japanese.

Then, let me explain how to use “oikutsu desu ka” through the example sentence below.

Example #2: how to use “oikutsu desu ka”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• shitsurei – 失礼 (しつれい) : a noun meaning ‘rudeness’ in Japanese. But, in reality, it is quite often used like an interjection meaning ‘excuse me’.
• ga – が : a conjunctive particle put after a sentence to mean ‘but’, ‘yet’, ‘though’, ‘although’ or some such. It can be used to connect two sentences which have different or opposite meanings. In the example, it is used to connect “shitsurei desu” with its following sentence.

This is a typical usage of “oikutsu desu ka”. In this example, it is used together with “shitsurei desu ga” which means “excuse me, but”. Japanese native speakers quite often use this example sentence to ask someone’s age in formal situations. Unfortunately, however, its usage is not limited to asking someone’s age in a polite way. From the word definitions, “oikutsu” can be a Japanese polite expression for ‘how many’. Depending on the situation and context, therefore, this example sentence can also be used as a Japanese ‘how many’ question. Let me explain this point through the example conversation below.

Example #3: how to say “how many” in Japanese

Below is the example conversation between two Japanese, Haru and Aki.

Below are the new words used in the example conversation.

• ringo – 林檎 (りんご) : a noun meaning ‘apple’. It can also be used as a plural noun meaning ‘apples’. Learn more about Japanese plural.
• wo – を : a case particle put after a noun to make the object word in a sentence. In the example, it is put after the noun, “ringo”, to make the object word in the sentence. It is written as “wo”, but its actual pronunciation is “o”.
• kudasai – 下さい (ください) : a command form of the verb, “kudasaru”, which means ‘to give’ in Japanese. Learn more about “kudasai“.

Here, “oikutsu desu ka” is used to make the ‘how many’ question in Japanese. Its meaning highly depends on the situation and context. But, in most cases, we can easily understand it correctly. Situations in which “oikutsu desu ka” is used to ask someone’s age are very different from those in which it is used to make ‘how many’ questions.

Summary

In this blog post, I’ve explained the expression, “nan sai desu ka”, in detail based on its components. And also, I’ve explained its polite expression, “oikutsu desu ka”. Let me summarize them as follows.

• nan sai desu ka – 何歳ですか/何才ですか (なんさいですか) : a Japanese expression for ‘how old are you?’ It can be used in various situations. But, in more formal situations, its polite expression would be better.
• oikutsu desu ka – おいくつですか : a polite expression of “nan sai desu ka”. It would be more suitable for formal situations. It is literally a Japanese polite expression for ‘how many’ or ‘how old’. So, it can also be used to make a Japanese ‘how many’ question.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.