Korean age, and how to say it
A Korean age answers two separate questions: which way the years are counted, and which number system names them. Since 28 June 2023 the first has a legal answer. The second has two, depending on the counter word.
Three ways of counting age
- 만 나이, international age. Full years since birth, going up on the birthday. The legal standard since 28 June 2023, and the count most of the world uses.
- 연 나이, year age. The current year minus the birth year, going up for everyone on 1 January. Still used by a few laws, including the rules on buying alcohol and tobacco and on military service.
- 세는 나이, counting age. One at birth, plus one every 1 January. This is the traditional “Korean age”, and it can run up to two years ahead of international age.
Work out all three
Enter a date of birth from 1900 on.
Saying the age: 살 or 세
In conversation, an age is a native number with the counter 살, in the shortened form a counter calls for: 일곱 살 (7), 스무 살 (20), 스물한 살 (21), 마흔네 살 (44). On forms, in the news and in formal writing it is Sino-Korean with 세: 이십 세, 사십사 세. In figures, both appear as 20살 and 20세.
To ask: 몇 살이에요? (How old are you?), or more politely to an older person, 연세가 어떻게 되세요? To answer: 스물다섯 살이에요, I am 25. Some people now say 만 스물다섯 살 to make clear they mean international age.
Practise native ages with the worksheet generator set to native Korean, or see every native number on the native numbers page. Every age word on this page, 스무 seumu included, comes from the site’s checked engine.
Questions teachers and learners ask
Did South Korea abolish Korean age?
It changed the legal standard. From 28 June 2023, amendments to the Civil Act (민법) and the Framework Act on Administrative Regulations (행정기본법) made international age, 만 나이, the way ages are counted in law, contracts and official documents unless a law says otherwise. The traditional counting age had no legal standing before the change either, and some people still use it socially.
Which laws still use year age?
Laws that were not amended keep their own rule. The Youth Protection Act (청소년 보호법), which sets who may buy alcohol and tobacco, and the Military Service Act (병역법) count by year age: the current year minus the birth year. So everyone born in the same year can buy alcohol from the same 1 January.
Do you say an age with native or Sino-Korean numbers?
Both are correct, with different counters. In speech, use native numbers with 살: 스무 살, 서른다섯 살. In forms, notices and formal writing, use Sino-Korean with 세: 이십 세, 삼십오 세. Native numbers stop at 99, so 100 years old is 백 살 or 백 세.
Why is it 스무 살 and not 스물 살?
Before a counter, native 20 loses its final ㄹ when it stands alone: 스무 살. When a unit follows, the full 스물 comes back: 스물한 살, 스물다섯 살. The units 1 to 4 also shorten before a counter, so 21 is 스물한 살, not 스물하나 살.
An independent learning site, not affiliated with the National Institute of Korean Language or any Korean government body. Rules and forms are quoted from the published sources named on each page; if your textbook or teacher prefers another accepted form, theirs is the one to follow in class.