How To Tell Your Age In Korean?

Jan 6, 2022

2 min read

Updated: Nov 7, 2023

Most of you reading this have probably seen this word "생일 축하합니다" or heard Koreans sing it to each other on their birthdays🎉. This post will help you understand how to say your age in Korean. When dealing with ages, we usually Native Korean numbers (#koreannumbers).

Simplified Explanation: Add -살

Age (In Native Korean Numbers) +

살입니다/살이에요/살이야

Example:

저는 열 여덟살입니다!

I am 18 years old!

Questions You Might Encounter:

몇 살이에요? (Polite/Casual)

나이가 어떻게 되세요? (Formal)

연세가 어떻게 되세요? (Honorific)

살 vs 세

살 and 세 have the same meaning, but there is a difference in when to use it and who to use it with. We use 세 when we talk about an elder person's age and 살 is used when talking about oneself, younger people, & friends.

세 is only used when you ask about and talk about someone's age older than you.

So you can say your age like this:

I am 20 years old.

나는 20(스무)살이다

세 Is used with sino-korean numbers only and 살 Is used with native-korean numbers only. (#KoreanNumbers)

Also, for using 세 :

Only use 세 for someone's age older than you or someone who you meet at first.

Example:

1: How old are you?

연세가 어떻게 되세요.

2: He is 70 years old.

그는 70(칠십)세 입니다.

For Number 1-4 & 20, the form of the number changes If a counter comes after it.

하나 becomes 한

둘 = 두

셋 = 세

넷 = 네

스물 = 스무

Example:

두 살이다 = to be 2 years old

스물 다섯살이다 = to be 25 years old

List Of Native Korean Numbers (1-99)

*reminder: the native/pure korean number system only goes up to 99. After that, numbers 100 and up are sino-korean numbers

하나 - 1

둘 - 2

셋 - 3

넷 - 4

다섯 - 5

여섯 - 6

일곱 - 7

여덟 - 8

아홉 - 9

열 - 10

열 하나 - 11

열 둘 - 12

열 셋 - 13

열 넷 - 14

열 다섯 - 15

열 여섯 - 16

열 일곱 - 17

열 여덟 - 18

열 아홉 - 19

스물 - 20

서른 - 30

마흔 - 40

쉰 - 50

예순 - 60

일흔 - 70

여든 - 80