Real Korean | Your Native Guide to K-Drama & K-Pop Slang

How to ask someone's age in Korean is not one phrase, it is a choice between about nine of them, and the wrong pick is the thing that makes you look rude. The reason beginners get this wrong is almost never the vocabulary — 몇 살 (myeot sal) is day-one material — it is that they attach it to the wrong ending, or point it at the wrong person. And you will need to ask. Korean makes you decide, usually within the first two minutes of meeting someone, whether you are going to speak 존댓말 (jondaenmal) or 반말 (banmal) to them, and whether you call them 형, 오빠, 누나, 언니 or 씨. You cannot make that decision without knowing roughly how old they are. So asking is normal between new adult acquaintances. What is not normal is asking the way a textbook taught you. Situation Asking someone's age How much politeness matters High — the phrase changes with the age gap, and one of the common forms is a fight opener Safe default 나이가 어떻게 되세요? (naiga eotteoke doeseyo?) If You Only Remember ...

How to ask how old are you in Korean is one of those questions that sounds simple until you actually try it. The trap is not the vocabulary — it is that Korean has at least seven different ways to ask someone's age, and picking the wrong one tells the other person you do not know your place in the conversation. Age is not small talk in Korea. It is structural . The answer determines which speech level you use for the rest of the relationship — who pours the drinks, who speaks first, which verb endings you are both locked into. That is why Koreans ask early and why they have so many ways to do it: the question itself has to match the relationship you are about to establish. So the real problem is not "what is the Korean word for age." It is: which version of the question matches the person standing in front of you right now? Situation Asking someone's age How much politeness matters Very high sensitivity — the wrong phrasing implies you outrank the listener or th...