Walk ‘n’ Talk Essentials #01 – How to talk about your age

How old are you? Thirteen? Twenty? Thirty? More? In this episode, you will learn how to say your age in English and how to ask someone when their birthday is. Enjoy this lesson by Taylah Martin, teacher from Fluency Academy!‍

The Dialogue:‍

A: How old are you?
B: I am twenty-eight (28) years old.
A: Okay, and when’s your birthday?
B: My birthday is on July twenty-fifth (25th).

‍Vocabulary Expansion:‍

How old
When you want to know a person’s age, or even the age of something, you can start your question with “how old”, and remember that age is a description, so the “to be” verb will be part of the question. Check out these different examples, starting with the question from the dialogue:

How old are you?
How old is she?
How old is he?
How old are they?
How old is it?

Years old
The reply to that question will also have the “to be” verb as a part of it, and it will look like this:

I am twenty-eight years old.
I am twenty- five (25) years old.
She is twenty- seven (27) years old.
He is nine (9) years old.
It is ninety-two (92) years old.

In casual conversation, the sentence becomes shorter, so it’s common to hear things like:

I am twenty-eight.
I am forty-one.
She is twenty-seven.
He is nine.

When
Another thing that you will hear a lot in casual conversation is abbreviation, to know the date or time something will happen the question is often reduced from “when is” to “when’s”. Take a look at these possible questions:

When’s your birthday?
When’s your party?
When’s your exam?
When’s the game?
When’s the deadline?

Dates
Before specific dates, such as a day of the week or a day of the month, we use the preposition “on”. It’s also important to note that days of the month are said in ordinal form! It can take some practice to say them more naturally, so check out these examples and try to create a sentence with your birth date:

My birthday is on July twenty-fifth (25th).
My birthday is on July fifth (5th).
My birthday is on September nine-teenth (19th).
My birthday is on December second (2nd).
My birthday is on March twenty-first (21st).

We hope this content was helpful and that you enjoyed the episode! Don’t forget that you can listen to it as many times as you want and that the more you practice, the more confident you will feel. See you next time!