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how old are you

how old are you

20 1.0
To ask someone how old they are
  • idiom
translation icon : ¿Cuántos años tienes?
  • How old were you when Harper was born?
  • Hey, how old are you
  • how old are you, really
  • how old are you, son

And, you know, how old are you?

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Examples

  • "Little fella, how old are you?"

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Your question, how old were you when you had your first celebrity crush?

  • So if I could, how old are you and how did you get involved in the fine art business?

  • OK, how, how old were you when you sort of started to realize that you like that stuff?

  • And how old are you?

  • Say, to decide a bet, how old are you?

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Jason, how old are you?

  • How old are you, young lady?

  • How old are you, baby?

  • Can you tell me how old are you?

Surface Forms

Morphology

how + old + be + you

The question 'how old are you' is compositionally built from 'how' (asking degree/extent) + 'old' (age) + 'are you' (addressing the person), so its meaning 'ask someone's age' is directly derivable from the parts. This is a common, cross-linguistically familiar interrogative pattern, making it immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

The question how old are you comes from the simple image of asking how many years someone has, like counting birthday candles to see how old they are. So, it is used 'to ask someone about their age'.