KOREAN LEVEL UP › Korean phrases › Introductions & meeting people › 몇 살이에요?

“How old are you” in Korean: 몇 살이에요? (myeot sarieyo?)

몇 살이에요?

myeot sarieyo?

Situation: Introductions & meeting peopleLevel: Starter (just learning Hangul)

Meaning

How old are you?

Usage note

In Korea, people sometimes ask about age in order to choose the right level of politeness. It is wiser to ask after you have gotten to know each other.

Romanization follows the Revised Romanization system and is a guide to pronunciation.

How to pronounce it

Syllables: 5 · Words: 2

In natural speech, sounds link and shift across words. The table below reads each word separately, as it sounds when said on its own.

Syllable	Letters (consonant + vowel + final)	Romanization
몇	ㅁ+ㅕ+ㅊ	[멷] myeot
살이에요
살	ㅅ+ㅏ+ㄹ	[사] sa
이	ㅇ+ㅣ	[리] ri
에	ㅇ+ㅔ	e
요	ㅇ+ㅛ	yo

A ㅇ at the start of a syllable is silent; at the end of a syllable it sounds like “ng”.

Sound changes in this phrase

Final-sound reduction: every final consonant is pronounced as one of seven sounds — ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ or ㅇ. 몇 → [멷]
Linking: when a syllable ending in a consonant (patchim) is followed by a syllable that starts with a vowel, the consonant moves over to the next syllable. 살이 → [사리]