Learn how to ask about someone's age
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| Marḥaban ǧamīʿan, ʾanā Carole! Hi everybody! I’m Carole. |
| Welcome to ArabicPod101.com’s Al-ʿarabiyyah fi ṯalāṯi daqāʾiq. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Arabic. |
| As we’ve explained before, sentences in Arabic do not always include verbs; the sentence can be complete with two nouns or pronouns. The first noun is usually the subject and the second noun informs and describes the first one. |
| In this lesson, we will use this to talk about your age. |
| It’s normal for young people in Arab countries to ask each other’s age. Of course, it might be risky to ask people over 25! |
| If someone asks you Kam ʿumruka? it means “How old are you?” |
| Kam is a particle indicating or asking about the quantity: “how much?” |
| ʿumruka means “your age” |
| [slowly] Kam ʿumruka? |
| For a woman, it would be: Kam ʿumruki? |
| [slowly] Kam ʿumruki? |
| As you can see, there is no verb in this sentence again. Now you have to answer with your age, which is your chance to practice the numbers you learned again! |
| To answer the question, you can say ʿumrī + number like ʿumrī sittatun waʿišrūn, which means “My age is 26”. You can also say ʿumrī sittatun waʿišrūna sanah which means “I am 26 years old”. |
| sanah is literally “year” |
| In both cases, no verb is used but both sentences are considered complete grammatically. Please refer back to lessons 6 and 7 to review the rules for numbers. |
| Here are some examples. |
| “I am 18” -> ʿumrī ṯamāniyata ʿašara sanah |
| “I am 20” -> ʿumrī ʿišrūna sanah |
| “I am 25” -> ʿumrī ḫamsatun wa ʿišrūna sanah |
| “I am 40” -> ʿumrī arbaʿūna sanah |
| ʿumrī means “my age is”. |
| ʾarbaʿūna is “40”. We learned about numbers back in lessons 6 and 7. |
| And then we just add sanah at the end, which means “years”. |
| [slowly] ʿumrī ʾarbaʿūna sanah |
| Now it’s time for Carole’s Tips. |
| Sometimes young people do not ask about your age directly, but rather ask questions about your education and work and assume your age from the conversation. |
| In this lesson, we learned how to talk about your age. Next time we’ll learn how to talk about possessions. |
| I'll be waiting for you with the details in the next Al-ʿarabiyyah fi ṯalāṯi daqāʾiq. |
| ʾarākum fi al-ʾumṯūlati al-qādimah! |
Comments
HideTry to write your age in Arabic! :)
Hi Nurilya,
un is for tens (twenty, thirty, etc), not for units. Hope this helps!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
السلام عليكم
إسمي عستَفن، عمري واحدٌ و عشرون عامًا
سعدت بلُقائكم.
Q: كم عمرك؟
A: عمري إثنان و عشرون سنة
I have a question.
When we add 3 to 9 numbers to decimal numbers like 3 + 20, 4+30, 5+50 and etc the "un" suffix" is added. For exapmle 24 = arbaàUN wa āshrUN or 59= tesUN wa hamsUN.
BUT does "un" is nedded for numbers 2 and 1 when we add them to decimal?
Like I am 22 years old. Āmru ițnan(un) wa āshrun?? (اثنة و عشرون؟؟)
I am 21. āmru wahid(un) wa ashrun??
Hi Mohammed,
شكراً شكراً!
Happy learning!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
Hi! Am happy to learn this lesson.
Hi Brian,
On behalf of Nora, you're welcome!
In case of any further questions, please feel free to contact us. We'll be glad to help )
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team ArabicPod101.com
Ahh, I did not realize that. Thank you.
Hi Brian,
Not really. The final vowelling (or tashkeel) of a word, which is the vowelling sign on the final letter of that word, is only pronounced when there is another word after it.
Some people also ignore the final vowelling altogether. It's individual variation I guess.
Thanks for your question!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
Because of the variation from the last lesson, I am assuming the "a" at the end of ishraun (ishrauna) is because the age is directly referencing her gender?
Hi Vincent,
Woah, that's a lot of writing! The more, the better, though!
Keep up the good work!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
I am writing all the language lessons.
Hi Dominik,
و انا عمري خمس و عشرون سنة!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
.عُمري تقريبا ثلاثةٌ وثلاثين سنة
This is better - I am nearly (amost) thirty-three years old.
Umri taqribaan thalatha wa'thalatun sanah
.عُمري تقريبا ثلاثةٌ و ثلاثون سنة
I am almost 33 years old.
Hi Miras,
Thank you! :smile:
If you have questions or you want to practice, please leave a comment!:thumbsup:
Have a nice day!
Ofelia
Team ArabicPod101.com
Thank you so much for this lesson