# Forum Learning Russian Language Translate This!  Expressing age.

## TronDD

How do you express age? 
For example: 
I am 24.
Are you 18?
How old are you?
My car is 34 years old. 
I'm making a wild guess that it's not a direct translation.  In English, we often drop the "years old".  What about in Russian? 
Tim.

----------


## Pravit

> How do you express age? 
> For example: 
> I am 24.
> Are you 18?
> How old are you?
> My car is 34 years old. 
> I'm making a wild guess that it's not a direct translation.  In English, we often drop the "years old".  What about in Russian? 
> Tim.

 It's usually expressed by the dative and then the number of years. If the number ends(or is) 1, then it is год. If it is 2,3,4, it is года. If it is 5 or above, it is лет. Don't ask why  ::  
Мне 24 года.
Тебе 18 лет?
Сколько тебе лет? 
About the car I'm not sure, but I suppose you could follow the pattern..
Моей машине 34 года.

----------


## TronDD

Cool.  Simple enough. 
Спасибо.

----------


## Helen

> About the car I'm not sure, but I suppose you could follow the pattern..
> Моей машине 34 года.

 You are absolutely right!

----------


## Friendy

> I'm making a wild guess that it's not a direct translation.  In English, we often drop the "years old".  What about in Russian?
> Tim.

 In Russian you may also drop "years old" . 
-Сколько тебе лет?
-Восемнадцать. 
Ему всего два (года), а он уже умеет читать. 
Когда мне было 8(лет), мы переехали в другой город. 
In all these examples it's obvious from the context that the speaker is talking about age.

----------


## bad manners

> Originally Posted by TronDD  How do you express age? 
> For example: 
> I am 24.
> Are you 18?
> How old are you?
> My car is 34 years old. 
> I'm making a wild guess that it's not a direct translation.  In English, we often drop the "years old".  What about in Russian? 
> Tim.   It's usually expressed by the dative and then the number of years. If the number ends(or is) 1, then it is год. If it is 2,3,4, it is года. If it is 5 or above, it is лет. Don't ask why

 Because 2, 3, 4 are special in Russian. Compare "2, 3, 4 стола" and "5, 6, 7, ... столов". The former uses the ancient "двойственное число" and the latter "множественное число". Even though there is only one plural in modern Russian. Recall the insanity of the "distributive" по.

----------

