Age in French – A Complete Guide đŸ‘¶đŸ§“đŸ»

Author: Camille Chevalier-Karfis

Expressing Age in French is tricky both grammatically and vocabulary wise: I’ll explain the differences between “grandir” and “vieillir”, the different life stages, the tricky French adjectives for old and young, how to ask someone’s age in French, and the difference between “an” and “annĂ©e”.

How to say your age in French?

First of all, there is a big grammatical trap. In English, to talk about how old someone or something is, you use the construction: “to be + number”.

  • He is 5.
    No need to say you’re counting years.

In French, we don’t use the verb to be (“ĂȘtre” in French). We use the construction “to have (so “avoir”) + number + whatever you are counting”

  1. Il a cinq ans – He/it is five (years old)
  2. Il a cinq jours – He/it is five days old.
  3. Il a cinq semaines –  He/it is five weeks old.
  4. Il a cinq mois – He/it is five months old.

We always specify whatever it is that we are counting, even when it’s years.
You cannot say in French “il a cinq”. You would always say “il a cinq ans”.

To master French numbers, I suggest you study with my free French numbers audio lesson (with plenty of exercises). And for off-line studying, I suggest you take a look at my French number audiobook – study at home or on the go!

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How To Say “How Old Are You” in French?

To ask someone’s age, you would say:

  1. Quel Ăąge avez-vous ? How old are you, using vous.
  2. Tu as quel Ăąge ? How old are you, using tu and a street French colloquial question form.
  3. Quel Ăąge a-t-il ? How old is he (formal way of asking)
  4. Elle a quel Ăąge ? How old is she (casual street French way)

Asking A Woman Her Age in French – A Big Faux-Pas

Asking a woman her age is considered quite impolite in French, especially if you are a man. If you are curious and still want to know, be delicate about it: “est-ce que je peux me permettre de te demander ton ñge ?” – this translates literally into “may I allow myself to ask for your age” but it would be the polite way to ask a woman her age in French.

How To Say “How Many + Age Notion” in French?

If you wanted to ask precisely how many week, months
 someone or something was, you would say:

  1. Combien de semaines a le bĂ©bĂ© d’Anne ? How many weeks is Anne’s baby (watch out, remember to use “avoir”, not the verb to be in French: “ĂȘtre”)
  2. Ce fromage a été affiné pendant combien de mois ? How many months was this cheese aged?

Learn more about question making with my downloadable French audio lesson (formal way, street way, complex interrogative expression such as “depuis combien de temps” (for how long) etc
 asking question is more complex in French than you think, and will unlock your conversation skills).

How To Say Year in French – An versus AnnĂ©e

This is tricky for French students.

“Un an” (masculine, strong liaison with the N making it sound like “un Nan”) and “une annĂ©e” both translate as “a year”. But they are not interchangeable.

Books will tell you “une annĂ©e” is a year span, it’s about the duration. I don’t think it’s clear, so I’ll tell you something else, that works most of the time :-)

With a number (except one) use “an” for year.

  • Il a trois ans – he is three.
  • Tous les deux ans – every 2 years.
  • J’y suis allĂ©e il y a cinq ans – I went there 5 years ago.

“AnnĂ©e” is mostly used in expressions that you need to learn by heart

  • L’annĂ©e derniĂšre – last year
  • L’annĂ©e prochaine – next year
  • Toute l’annĂ©e – All year long â‰  tous les ans – each year
  • Les annĂ©es quatre-vingts – the eighties
  • L’annĂ©e scolaire – the school year
  • L’annĂ©e d’avant / d’aprĂšs – the year before / the following year

Memorize these expressions, and this won’t be a problem for you any longer.

How To Say Getting Older in French?

We use specific verbs to say to get older in French:

  1. Les enfants grandissent (grandir) – to grow up. – children grow up.
  2. Les adultes vieillissent (vieillir) – to grow old. – adults grow old.

Both can also “rajeunir” – to become/look younger.

How To Say Old in French?

The French adjective for ‘old’ is “vieux (m), vieille/s (f), or vieil”
 which I’ll explain below.

Now, even the French adjective for old is problematic. It’s very irregular.

The French adjective “old” goes BEFORE the noun, when most French adjectives go after the noun.

  1. Vieux + masculine noun, singular and plural (the x is silent)
    un vieux chien, deux vieux chiens – an old dog, 2 old dogs
  2. Vieille + feminine noun (add an S to make it plural)
    une vieille chienne, deux vieilles chiennes – an old female dog, 2 old female dogs
  3. Vieil + masculine noun starting with a vowel or a silent h = the mutant form!
    un vieil immeuble  â€“ an old building
    un vieil ordinateur – an old computer
    Watch out! “Un vieil ami” means an old (time) friend. Say “un ami qui est vieux” if you want to say “a friend who is old”

    The pronunciation of “vieil” is the same as the feminine “vieille”.

Be careful that the noun “les vieux” to talk about old-people is pejorative in French. Use instead “les personnes ĂągĂ©es” or “les sĂ©niors”.

Instead of calling someone “old”, it may be more delicate to call them “not very young” = pas trùs jeune, or “of some age” = d’un certain ñge.

  • Anne est une femme d’un certain Ăąge. Elle n’est plus trĂšs jeune mais elle est restĂ©e trĂšs jeune d’esprit
    Ann is a mature woman. She is no longer young, but she remained young at heart (notice we say “young in spirits”in French)
4 generations: my husband Olivier, our daughter Leyla, Olivier's mom Cristine and grandmother GeneviĂšve ❀

4 generations French family: my husband Olivier, our daughter Leyla, Olivier’s mom Cristine and grandmother GeneviĂšve ❀

How to say Young in French?

The French adjective for “young” is also irregular, since it too goes before the noun, but at least it has only one form:

  • Jeune + masculine or feminine noun. Add an S to make it plural.
    Un jeune chien – a young dog
    Trois jeunes chiennes – three young female dogs.

Here also, you’ll use into expressions. “Un jeune-homme” is a young man, so he is young for sure, but it’s also an old fashion greeting : “bonjour jeune-homme”


Same goes for “une jeune-femme”.

30 French Words For Age Stages

La Naissance – birth

  1. Un bĂ©bĂ© – a baby – always masculine. We then talk about “un bĂ©bĂ© fille” (girl) ou un bĂ©bĂ© garçon (boy)”
  2. Un nouveau-nĂ© – a newborn, masculine.
  3. Il est nĂ© / elle est nĂ©e – he/she was born

L’enfance – childhood

  1. Un/une enfant – a child – mostly used in the masculine, but can be used in the feminine as well. No e at the end though.
  2. Une fille – a girl
  3. Un garçon – a boy
  4. Grandir – to grow up and also to grow in size

L’adolescence – teenage years

  1. Un adolescent, une adolescente – a teenager
  2. Un jeune-homme – a young man
  3. Une jeune-fille – a young woman
  4. Un ado – a teen
  5. MĂ»rir – to become more mature

L’ñge Adulte – adulthood

  1. Un / une adulte – an adult
  2. Un homme – a man (strong liaison un Nomm)
  3. Une femme – a woman (pronounced fam)
  4. Vieillir – to grow old(er)

La Vieillesse – old age

  1. Une personne ĂągĂ©e – an elderly person (une personne being feminine, this expression may refer to men but is feminine)
  2. Un ancien, une ancienne – an elderly person, very old-fashioned.
  3. Un vieux, une vieille – an old person – pejorative
  4. Un sĂ©nior – a senior
  5. Mourir – to die
  6. La mort – death, t silent
  7. Il est mort – he is dead / died (t silent)
  8. Elle est morte – she is dead / died (t pronounced)

For more French death related vocabulary and how to express your sympathy in French, read my article.

Note, in France we talk about “le premier ñge” for infancy, and then “le troisiùme ñge” is for retired but physically active people, and we now talk about “le quatriùme ñge” for people who are old and ill. But we never talk about “le deuxiùme ñge”


VoilĂ , I hope this lesson on how to express age in French will be useful to you. You may also like my audio lessons on French numbers.

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Author: Camille Chevalier-Karfis

Camille Chevalier-Karfis

Born and raised in Paris, I have been teaching today's French to adults for 25+ years in the US and France. Based on my students' goals and needs, I've created unique downloadable French audiobooks focussing on French like it's spoken today, for all levels. Come to Paimpol and enjoy an exclusive French immersion homestay with me in Brittany.

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