Greeting a Japanese Friend

おいくつですか [o ikutsu desu ka]
How old are you?

• お- [o-] makes it respectful
• いくつ [ikutsu] means "how many years?"
• ですか [desu ka] means "is it?"
• Literally means "how many years, is it?"

Japanese numbers for telling age.

• 1 一 [ichi]
• 2 二 [ni]
• 3 三 [san]
• 4 四 [yon]
• 5 五 [go]
• 6 六 [roku]
• 7 七 [nana]
• 8 八 [hachi]
• 9 九 [kyu]
• 10 十 [ju]

How to combine numbers:

• 16 十六 [ju roku] → 10 十 [ju] + 6 六 [roku]
• 25 二十五 [ni ju go] → 2 二 [ni] + 10 十 [ju] + 5 五 [go]
• 37 三十七 [san ju nana] → 3 三 [san] + 10 十 [ju] + 7 七 [nana]

__才です [__sai desu]
I'm___years old.

• 才 [sai] means "years of age"
• 十六才です [ju roku sai desu] I'm 16 years old.
• 二十五才です [ni ju go sai desu] I'm 25 years old.

はたちです [hatachi desu]
I'm 20 years old.

You don't add 才 [sai] for 20 years old

• A: おいくつですか
  How old are you?
• B: はたちです [hatachi desu]
  I'm 20 years old.
• B: おいくつですか [o ikutsu desu ka]
  How old are you?
• A: ２６才です
  I'm 26 years old.