How to Say ‘How old are you?’ in Japanese
おいくつですか。
o iku tsu desu ka
[oh ee-koo tsoo dess kah]
🇯🇵 In Japan: This is polite, but asking someone's age is more acceptable in some contexts than others. It's common among classmates or in friendly introductions, but can be a bit forward in business or with older strangers.
Phrase Breakdown
おいくつ
o iku tsu
how old (polite)
Polite way to ask age. お is honorific; いくつ literally means “how many,” used for age here.
おいくつですか。
How old are you?
Words in this phrase
お
o
[oh]
honorific prefix (polite)
お makes the question polite. おいくつですか is a standard polite way to ask age.
すみません、おいくつですか。
Excuse me, how old are you?
いく
iku
[ee-koo]
how many / how old (in おいくつ)
いく is part of いくつ. In this fixed question, it means “how old.”
おいくつですか。
How old are you?
つ
tsu
[tsoo]
(part of いくつ) “-tsu” ending
つ completes いくつ. Learn おいくつ as one unit for “how old (are you)?”
おいくつですか。
How old are you?
ですか
desu ka
is it? / are you? (polite question ending)
です (polite) + か (question marker). Turns a statement into a polite question.
忙しいですか。
Are you busy?
Words in this phrase
です
desu
[dess]
to be (polite); is/am/are
です makes the question polite. You can answer with 〜さいです.
二十五さいです。
I’m 25 years old.
か
ka
[kah]
question particle “?”
か turns it into a polite question: おいくつですか。
おいくつですか。
How old are you?
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