Japanese

<p>
	In order to talk about age, we need to use the counter <strong><ruby>歳sai</ruby></strong>.
	Please note that <strong><ruby>歳sai</ruby></strong> is only used for talking about the age of living things like animals and humans.
	You would not, for example, say: <strong><ruby>あの車kurumaは何nan歳saiですか？</ruby></strong>.
</p>

<p>
	As with the previous counter words you have learned, 
	<strong><ruby>歳sai</ruby></strong> has several irregularities in how it is read in combination with certain numbers,
	as shown in the table below.
</p>

<table class="ui fixed celled table">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>English</th>
			<th>Japanese</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr data-item="27243"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27244"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27245"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27246"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27247"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27248"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27249"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27250"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27251"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27252"></tr>
		<tr data-item="266475"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27253"></tr>
		<tr data-item="266474"></tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>
	As you can see, <strong>twenty years old</strong> is an exception, and after that counting tens continues as expected.
</p>

<p>
	Below are several example sentences relating to age.
</p>

<table class="ui fixed celled table">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>English</th>
			<th>Japanese</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr data-item="27180"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27181"></tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

How old are you?

hiragana character

kanji

adnominal

adverb

auxiliary

conjunction

compound

i-adjective

interjection

noun

na-adjective

numeral

particle

case particle

conjunctive particle

discourse particle

prefix

pronoun

suffix

verb

sentence

hiragana writing

kanji writing

kanji component

reading vocabulary

katakana writing

katakana character

godan - group 1

itidan - group 2

group 3

transitive

intransitive

proper noun

discourse

phrase

expression

Word	何なん歳さいnansai
Meaning	how many years old
Part of speech	noun
Pronunciation
Course	Japanese
Lesson	How old are you?

what	何なんnan
years of age (counter)	〜歳さい〜sai

How old are you?	あなた　は　何なん歳さい　です　か？anata ha nansai desu ka?
How old is your child?	お子こさん　は　何なん歳さい　です　か？okosan ha nansai desu ka?

Japanese - nansai

Breakdown of nansai

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Usages of nansai