Is there any other expression I can use when asking the age?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
Great question, but actually this is the only way that you directly ask for a person's age in English. There really isn't any alternative to "How old are you". However, it is important to know that age is actually quite a sensitive topic for some people. As a general rule, you don’t want to ask about age if there is any possibility of offending the person. If the person is very clearly young, then it may not be a problem but you just never know. Even if it seems like a young person, directly asking for someone's age tends to be something that you want to avoid in conversation. To some people, age isn’t an issue or concern, but you never know who you are dealing with and what their feelings are. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you know somebody well, then age may be an acceptable topic of conversation. It may come up naturally in conversation if you have known each other for awhile, and that’s perfectly okay. When in doubt, it's best to avoid the age question. Ex: How old are you Jake? Ex: How old were you when you lived in New York? Ex: How old is your daughter now? Ex: How old will you be in June?
