Expressing age
English expresses age using the adjective 'old'.
How
old
are you.
I am 15 years
old
.
In Russian, the person whose age is being told is in the dative case.
In expressing age Russian does not use the equivalent of the adjective
old
.
The age is followed by a word for year(s).
If the number of years ends in the numeral 1 (1, 21, 31...), use the word
год
:
Ему 21 год.
He is 21 years old
.
If the number of years ends in the numerals 2-4 (2, 22,24, 33), use the word
года
:
Ей 24
года
.
She is 24 years old
.
If the number of years ends in any other numeral (55, 20), use the word
лет
:
Ему 55
лет
.
He is 55 years old
.
If the number of years ends in the numerals 5-9, 11-19, or 0, use the word
лет
:
Мне 8 лет.
Ей 13 лет.
Тебе 29 лет.
Ему 10 лет.
Anecdote:
-Тебе сколько лет?
-Пять. А тебе?
-Не знаю.
-Ты интересуешься девочками? (
interested in girls
)
-Нет.
-Значит тебе четыре года.
Copyright ©.
George Mitrevski
. Auburn University. e-mail:
mitrege@auburn.edu