Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
“I am in my twenties” or “I am on my twenties”? She looks thirtyish. He’s twenty-something. Do you have a “five year old” daughter or a “five-year-old” daughter? “I have 25 years” or “I am 25 years old”? There are so many points of confusion when speaking about age in English! In this lesson, we’ll learn how to use words like mid, early, late, and -ish when talking about age, and cover many other ways to talk about someone’s age. This video is perfect for English learners who want to improve their fluency. engvid.com/how-to-talk-about-age-in-english
Next, learn to talk about family and life stages in English:
Real English Conversation: Talking about family youtu.be/O3h7bUFrP0Q
Easy English: Talk About Your Life - Birth, Job, Marriage, and More! youtu.be/SKd2rEmj41I
In this lesson:
0:00 How to talk about age in English
1:19 common mistakes
3:36 thirties, forties, fifties...
6:10 thirty-something, forty-something...
7:02 ______ish
8:23 early, mid, late
12:36 "year old" or "year-old"?
15:22 Practice
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, my name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you something very useful,
and that is how to talk about age, or how to talk about how old someone is.
So we're going to look at words like "early", "mid", "late", and how we can add these
to people's ages.
We're going to talk about the word "ish" and "age", and we're also going to talk about
the word "something" when it refers to age.
So imagine this situation.
You see someone, and someone says, "Oh, how old is your teacher?" or "How old is your
boss?
How old is that lady at the store?"
And you look at the person, and you think, "Hmm, I don't really know.
I don't know how old this lady is.
Maybe around 50 years old?
Maybe 55?
I don't know."
So when you kind of know the age, but you're not exactly sure, that's when we use a lot
of these types of words, and I'll explain how to use them in a moment.
But first, let's look at some common mistakes people make when they talk about age.
I have here four sentences.
One of these sentences is correct.
I want you to try to figure out which are correct sentences and which ones are not correct.
Well, the first sentence I hear many students say, "She has 50 years." or "She has 50 years
old."
What's the problem here?
The problem is the verb.
When we're talking about age, we do not use "have" in English.
We use "have" in other languages, but in English, we use our "be" verb, so we can say, "I am",
"you are", "he is", "she is", "we are", "they are".
And then we have the number.
So let's look at an example of that.
So this looks a little bit better.
We see "she is", that's good, they have the right verb, "she is 50 years."
Is that correct?
It's not correct because there is a word missing, and that word is "old".
In English, we say, "She is 50 years old.", "He is 20 years old."
So we need the word "old" here, and it's missing.
So this one's incorrect as well.
So I'm just going to put an "x" and an "x".
What about this one?
"She is 50 years old."
Is that correct?
Yeah, that's a great sentence.
"She is 50 years old."
Beautiful.
And what about the last one?
"She is 50 years old."
And we have some hyphens here.
So this is something that's very confusing, even to English speakers who are native English
speakers.
So this sentence is incorrect because of the hyphens, but I'll explain when we use hyphens
a little later on in this lesson.
So this is incorrect.
All right, so now let's get started and find out more about age.
So, there are many times when we don't know a person's exact age.
So what can we say about a person when we don't know their age?
Well, there's many different options in English.
When we don't know the exact age of a person, one thing we can do is if we know the decade
they are in, we can use that.
So, for example, if I think somebody is between 30 and 39 years old, I don't know if they're
30, I don't know if they're 35, they look between 30 and 39, I can say, "Oh, the woman,
she is in her 30s."
And notice this has an "s" on it.
"She is in her 30s."
This means she is somewhere between 30 and 39, but I don't know exactly what her age
is.
We can use this with all the decades.
We can say, "He is in his 20s.", "He is in his 40s.", "She is in her 50s.", "They are
in their 60s.", "I am in my 70s.", "He is in his 80s.", "We are in our 90s."
And if you're talking about teenagers, you know, you can also use this, too, "They are
in their teens."
So for somebody who is 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, or 19, you can say, "They are in their
teens."
Okay?
So, what about if I want to talk about myself?
I know my age.
We usually use this for people when we don't know their ages, but I know how old I am. […]
“I am in my twenties” or “I am on my twenties”? She looks thirtyish. He’s twenty-something. Do you have a “five year old” daughter or a “five-year-old” daughter? “I have 25 years” or “I am 25 years old”? There are so many points of confusion when speaking about age in English! In this lesson, we’ll learn how to use words like mid, early, late, and -ish when talking about age, and cover many other ways to talk about someone’s age. This video is perfect for English learners who want to improve their fluency. engvid.com/how-to-talk-about-age-in-english
Next, learn to talk about family and life stages in English:
Real English Conversation: Talking about family youtu.be/O3h7bUFrP0Q
Easy English: Talk About Your Life - Birth, Job, Marriage, and More! youtu.be/SKd2rEmj41I
In this lesson:
0:00 How to talk about age in English
1:19 common mistakes
3:36 thirties, forties, fifties...
6:10 thirty-something, forty-something...
7:02 ______ish
8:23 early, mid, late
12:36 "year old" or "year-old"?
15:22 Practice
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, my name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you something very useful,
and that is how to talk about age, or how to talk about how old someone is.
So we're going to look at words like "early", "mid", "late", and how we can add these
to people's ages.
We're going to talk about the word "ish" and "age", and we're also going to talk about
the word "something" when it refers to age.
So imagine this situation.
You see someone, and someone says, "Oh, how old is your teacher?" or "How old is your
boss?
How old is that lady at the store?"
And you look at the person, and you think, "Hmm, I don't really know.
I don't know how old this lady is.
Maybe around 50 years old?
Maybe 55?
I don't know."
So when you kind of know the age, but you're not exactly sure, that's when we use a lot
of these types of words, and I'll explain how to use them in a moment.
But first, let's look at some common mistakes people make when they talk about age.
I have here four sentences.
One of these sentences is correct.
I want you to try to figure out which are correct sentences and which ones are not correct.
Well, the first sentence I hear many students say, "She has 50 years." or "She has 50 years
old."
What's the problem here?
The problem is the verb.
When we're talking about age, we do not use "have" in English.
We use "have" in other languages, but in English, we use our "be" verb, so we can say, "I am",
"you are", "he is", "she is", "we are", "they are".
And then we have the number.
So let's look at an example of that.
So this looks a little bit better.
We see "she is", that's good, they have the right verb, "she is 50 years."
Is that correct?
It's not correct because there is a word missing, and that word is "old".
In English, we say, "She is 50 years old.", "He is 20 years old."
So we need the word "old" here, and it's missing.
So this one's incorrect as well.
So I'm just going to put an "x" and an "x".
What about this one?
"She is 50 years old."
Is that correct?
Yeah, that's a great sentence.
"She is 50 years old."
Beautiful.
And what about the last one?
"She is 50 years old."
And we have some hyphens here.
So this is something that's very confusing, even to English speakers who are native English
speakers.
So this sentence is incorrect because of the hyphens, but I'll explain when we use hyphens
a little later on in this lesson.
So this is incorrect.
All right, so now let's get started and find out more about age.
So, there are many times when we don't know a person's exact age.
So what can we say about a person when we don't know their age?
Well, there's many different options in English.
When we don't know the exact age of a person, one thing we can do is if we know the decade
they are in, we can use that.
So, for example, if I think somebody is between 30 and 39 years old, I don't know if they're
30, I don't know if they're 35, they look between 30 and 39, I can say, "Oh, the woman,
she is in her 30s."
And notice this has an "s" on it.
"She is in her 30s."
This means she is somewhere between 30 and 39, but I don't know exactly what her age
is.
We can use this with all the decades.
We can say, "He is in his 20s.", "He is in his 40s.", "She is in her 50s.", "They are
in their 60s.", "I am in my 70s.", "He is in his 80s.", "We are in our 90s."
And if you're talking about teenagers, you know, you can also use this, too, "They are
in their teens."
So for somebody who is 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, or 19, you can say, "They are in their
teens."
Okay?
So, what about if I want to talk about myself?
I know my age.
We usually use this for people when we don't know their ages, but I know how old I am. […]
