In English, "I am twenty" has a subject ("I"), a verb ("am"), and a complement ("twenty"). Russian has none of those parts. It says Мне два́дцать лет — literally "to-me twenty years." The person whose age you state goes in the dative (мне, "to me"), there is no nominative "I," and in the present tense there is no verb at all. On top of that, the word for "year" changes shape — год, го́да, or лет — depending on the last digit of the number. Age is therefore the place where two separate Russian rules collide: the dative experiencer and numeral government. Once you see how they fit together, the whole construction becomes mechanical.
The core pattern: dative person + number + year
To say someone's age, put the person in the dative and follow it with the number plus the appropriate form of год ("year"):
| Person (nominative) | Dative form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| я | мне | Мне два́дцать лет. |
| ты | тебе́ | Тебе́ де́сять лет. |
| он / она́ | ему́ / ей | Ему́ со́рок лет. / Ей три́дцать лет. |
| мы / вы / они́ | нам / вам / им | Нам по два́дцать лет. / Им мно́го лет. |
| a noun: брат | бра́ту | Бра́ту пять лет. |
Мне два́дцать лет.
I am twenty (years old). — Literally 'to-me twenty years': dative person мне, number, then лет. No 'I' and no verb.
Ско́лько тебе́ лет?
How old are you? — The standard way to ask age: ско́лько ('how many') + dative тебе́ + лет. Never *как ста́рый ты.
Моему́ сы́ну то́лько три го́да.
My son is only three. — The noun phrase 'my son' goes in the dative (моему́ сы́ну), and три governs го́да.
Why the dative? It is the same logic as feelings
The dative here is not arbitrary. Russian uses the dative for an experiencer — the person who is the seat of a state they do not actively control. You do not do your age; it is simply true of you, the way cold (мне хо́лодно) or boredom (мне ску́чно) is true of you. This is the same dative-subject pattern covered on the dative subject page: the logical subject of the sentence sits in the dative, and the grammatical subject slot stays empty. Age is one of the most common members of this family.
Ей бы́ло гру́стно, потому́ что ей уже́ три́дцать.
She felt sad because she's already thirty. — Both clauses use dative ей: гру́стно is a feeling, три́дцать is an age — the same experiencer logic.
The год / го́да / лет choice: it follows the number
This is the part that trips learners. The word for "year" is not fixed — it changes according to the last digit of the number in front of it, exactly like any noun after a numeral. This is Russian's general numeral government rule, and год simply obeys it:
| Last digit of the number | Form of "year" | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (but not 11) | год (nominative sg) | два́дцать оди́н год |
| 2, 3, 4 (but not 12–14) | го́да (genitive sg) | два́дцать два го́да, три́дцать четы́ре го́да |
| 0, 5–9, and all of 11–14 | лет (genitive pl, suppletive) | пять лет, оди́ннадцать лет, два́дцать лет |
The trap inside the trap: 11, 12, 13, 14 all take лет, even though they end in 1, 2, 3, 4. The "teens" are an exception block — оди́ннадцать лет, двена́дцать лет — because the rule actually keys off the whole last segment, not the bare digit. After the teens, the digit rule resumes normally: 21 → год, 22 → го́да.
Моему́ де́душке во́семьдесят оди́н год.
My grandfather is eighty-one. — ...оди́н → год (nominative singular).
Сестре́ два́дцать два го́да.
My sister is twenty-two. — ...два → го́да (the 2–4 form).
Ему́ всего́ оди́ннадцать лет.
He's only eleven. — Eleven takes лет, not *год, because 11–14 are an exception block.
В э́том ме́сяце мне исполня́ется три́дцать лет.
I turn thirty this month. — исполня́ется + dative is the idiom for 'turns (an age)'; 30 → лет.
The suppletive лет (it is borrowed from ле́то, "summer") is the same form you meet after мно́го and other quantifiers — see genitive after quantity. You never say *пять годо́в.
Past and future age: бы́ло and бу́дет stay neuter
To talk about a past or future age, you add the verb быть ("to be") — but in a frozen neuter singular form, бы́ло (past) or бу́дет (future). It does not agree with the person, because the grammatical subject slot is empty; there is nothing for it to agree with, so it defaults to neuter.
Когда́ мне бы́ло де́сять лет, я жил в Москве́.
When I was ten, I lived in Moscow. — мне бы́ло (neuter, not *была), де́сять лет.
Ей бы́ло три́дцать, когда́ родила́сь дочь.
She was thirty when her daughter was born. — ей бы́ло, neuter despite a feminine person.
В сле́дующем году́ ба́бушке бу́дет се́мьдесят.
Next year grandma will be seventy. — бу́дет (future), staying neuter singular.
"It's time to": пора́ + dative + infinitive
Closely related is the word пора́ ("(it's) time, high time"), which also takes a dative experiencer and then an infinitive. Like age, it has no nominative subject and no present-tense verb.
Мне пора́.
I have to go / It's time for me to leave. — A complete, everyday sentence: dative мне + пора́, with the verb 'go' left unspoken.
Уже́ по́здно, де́тям пора́ спать.
It's late, it's time for the kids to go to bed. — де́тям (dative plural) + пора́ + infinitive спать.
Нам пора́ идти́, ина́че опозда́ем.
It's time for us to go, or we'll be late. — нам (dative) + пора́ + infinitive идти́.
In the past and future, пора́ likewise takes neuter быть: бы́ло пора́, бу́дет пора́. And the overlapping idea of necessity — нам ну́жно встава́ть ра́но ("we have to get up early") — uses the same dative-experiencer frame; that family is covered on impersonal modals.
Бы́ло уже́ пора́ выходи́ть, а он всё спал.
It was already time to leave, but he was still asleep. — Past: бы́ло (neuter) + пора́ + infinitive.
How this differs from English
English speakers stumble here because every structural cue is different. English builds age from a subject pronoun ("I"), a copula ("am"), a number, and a fixed phrase ("years old"). Russian deletes the subject, deletes the present-tense copula, marks the person with the dative, and inflects the word for "year" to match the number. Spanish learners face a similar shock — Spanish uses tener ("to have"): tengo veinte años — but Russian doesn't even use "have." The mental translation that works is not "I am twenty" but "to-me [there are] twenty years." Hold that frame and the dative, the missing verb, and the лет all fall into place.
Common Mistakes
❌ Я два́дцать лет.
Incorrect — age never uses the nominative 'я'. The person goes in the dative.
✅ Мне два́дцать лет.
I am twenty. — Dative мне, no 'I', no verb.
❌ Мне есть два́дцать лет.
Incorrect — there is no present-tense verb in age statements; есть is wrong here.
✅ Мне два́дцать лет.
I am twenty. — The present tense has no copula at all.
❌ Ему́ два́дцать два лет.
Incorrect — after a number ending in 2 (not 12), 'year' takes го́да, not лет.
✅ Ему́ два́дцать два го́да.
He is twenty-two. — ...два → го́да.
❌ Ей была́ три́дцать лет.
Incorrect — быть does not agree with the person in age statements; it stays neuter бы́ло.
✅ Ей бы́ло три́дцать лет.
She was thirty. — Frozen neuter бы́ло.
❌ Ско́лько ты лет?
Incorrect — the person must be dative when asking age, and ско́лько governs лет.
✅ Ско́лько тебе́ лет?
How old are you? — Dative тебе́ + лет.
Key Takeaways
- Age = dative person + number + год/го́да/лет, with no nominative subject and no present-tense verb: Мне два́дцать лет.
- The form of "year" follows the last digit of the number: 1 → год (но 11 → лет), 2–4 → го́да (но 12–14 → лет), 0, 5–9, 11–14 → лет. The teens 11–14 are an exception block.
- Ask age with Ско́лько тебе́/вам лет? — dative person, never the nominative.
- Past and future use a frozen neuter бы́ло / бу́дет, which does not agree with the person: Ей бы́ло три́дцать; Ему́ бу́дет со́рок.
- пора́ ("it's time to") shares the frame: dative person + пора́ + infinitive (Мне пора́; Нам пора́ идти́).
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- Dative: FormsA2 — The dative (да́тельный паде́ж) answers кому? (to whom?). Singular: masc/neuter -у/-ю (столу́, музе́ю, окну́, мо́рю), feminine -а/-я → -е (кни́ге, неде́ле), feminine -ь → -и (но́чи), and the -ия/-ие → -ии exception (Росси́и, ле́кции). Plural is uniform across all genders: -ам/-ям (стола́м, кни́гам, моря́м, музе́ям). The pronoun datives are мне, тебе́, ему́/ей, нам, вам, им, себе́. The trap: the feminine dative singular looks identical to the prepositional (both кни́ге), so the FORM is shared but the FUNCTION differs.
- Dative Subjects: Feelings, Age, NecessityA2 — In a signature Russian construction the logical subject — the person experiencing a state — stands in the DATIVE, not the nominative, and there is often no nominative subject and no real verb at all. Feelings: Мне хо́лодно (I'm cold), Ему́ ску́чно (he's bored). Age: Мне два́дцать лет (I'm 20). Necessity/permission: Мне на́до идти́ (I have to go), Здесь нельзя́ кури́ть (you can't smoke here). Liking: Мне нра́вится му́зыка (music is pleasing to me — the liked thing is the nominative subject!). The verb, when present, is frozen neuter. This is where English speakers most resist Russian, and mastering it is the gateway to sounding native.
- The Numeral Government Rule in DepthA2 — The single most important rule in Russian numbers, stated definitively for the nominative/accusative: a number ending in 1 (except 11) puts the noun in the NOMINATIVE SINGULAR (два́дцать оди́н дом); ending in 2, 3, 4 (except 12–14) → GENITIVE SINGULAR (два до́ма, три рубля́); ending in 0, 5–9, or being 11–14 → GENITIVE PLURAL (пять домо́в, двена́дцать книг). Plus where the rule comes from (the genitive singular is a fossilized dual), how adjectives agree inside a numeral phrase (два больши́х до́ма), and how compounds key on the final word (сто оди́н дом).
- Counting People, Animals, and ThingsB1 — Putting the government rule to work across the three things you actually count: PEOPLE (cardinals + genitive — два студе́нта, пять челове́к; collective numerals for groups, males, and children — дво́е дете́й), ANIMALS (две ко́шки, пять соба́к), and THINGS (три кни́ги, де́сять рубле́й). The tricky bits: the irregular count form пять челове́к (not *пять люде́й) versus мно́го люде́й after non-numbers, and pluralia tantum (су́тки, но́жницы) that can ONLY be counted with collective numerals (дво́е су́ток).
- Genitive After Quantity WordsA2 — мно́го, ма́ло, немно́го, не́сколько, ско́лько, сто́лько, бо́льше, ме́ньше all govern the genitive: genitive PLURAL for things you can count (мно́го книг, ско́лько люде́й) and genitive SINGULAR for mass/abstract nouns (мно́го воды́, ма́ло вре́мени). Measures behave the same (килогра́мм я́блок, буты́лка вина́, ча́шка ко́фе). The count/mass split — invisible in English's much/many — decides singular vs plural.
- Dative with Impersonal Modals (можно, нужно, нельзя, пора)A2 — Russian expresses most modality about people with a frozen pattern: dative person + impersonal word + infinitive. Мне на́до идти́ (I have to go), Вам мо́жно войти́ (you may come in), Ему́ нельзя́ кури́ть (he mustn't smoke), Нам пора́ е́хать (it's time for us to go), Тебе́ тру́дно поня́ть (it's hard for you to understand). Past/future insert frozen neuter бы́ло/бу́дет (Мне на́до бы́ло уйти́). The experiencer is the DATIVE — there's no nominative 'I'. Plus the agreeing ну́жен/нужна́/ну́жно/нужны́ for needing a thing (Мне нужна́ по́мощь, Мне нужны́ де́ньги).