The French quote "Quel âge avez-vous" revealed

You are going to find out all the things you ever wanted to know about the basic phrase “Quel âge avez-vous”.

Are included a detailed guide of what it is and how you can use it in a conversation with an audio example. As well as the cool informations we added like dialogue example, slow pronunciation audio, synonyms and more!

Oh and before I forget, you can also find more phrases guides like this one on this page and the complete directory of all our French words content on this page. Ready to learn? Let’s go!

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Translation in English

How to pronounce it?

Slow pronunciation

Normal pronunciation

What does it mean exactly?

Definition

The literal meaning is:

  • Quel → What
  • Âge → Age
  • Avez → Have
  • Vous → You

It’s the easy and neutral way to ask someone his/her age in French and a very basic sentence that you should know. Its use is very similar to “How old are you?” in English, even though there are few tips you need to know as you will see in the next sections.

How to use

Use it at the beginning of a dialogue after meeting someone or as an icebreaker to change the topic of the conversation. The neutral way to use it would be: “Quel âge avez-vous ?” (How old are you) → “J’ai 28 ans et vous ?” (I’m 28 and you?).

In case of an informal context, use instead: “Quel âge as-tu ?“. But in a familiar context, you can use “T’as quel âge ?” which is shorter and easier to use.

Fun facts

Be extra careful when asking a woman her age, this is considered as impolite in France, even more if you are a man. In this case, you should ask instead: “Je peux te demander ton/votre âge ?” (May I ask for your age?) and she will decide.

Synonyms and similarities

  • Tu as quel âge ? (“How old are you?“)
  • T’as quel âge ? (“How old are you?“)(Familiar)
  • Quel âge tu as ? (“How old are you?“)
  • Vous avez quel âge ? (“How old are you?“)(Formal & Plural)
  • Quel âge as-tu ? (“How old are you?“)
  • Quel âge a-t-elle ? (“How old is she?“)
  • Quel âge elle a ? (“How old is she?“)
  • Quel âge a-t-il ? (“How old is he?“)
  • Quel âge il a ? (“How old is he?“)

Example in a story with slow audio

Now, let’s see a complete example of this sentence in a story with slow French audio and the English translation below.
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Arrêter de fumer
Stop smoking
___
On a tous au moins une mauvaise habitude qu’on aimerait arrêter.
We all have at least one bad habit that we would like to stop.
Pour Emily, c’est la cigarette.
For Emily, it’s the cigarette.
Elle a essayé d’arrêter de fumer plusieurs fois, mais sans succès…
She tried to quit smoking several times but without success…
Aujourd’hui, elle a encore décidé d’arrêter…
Today, she decided to stop again…
Alors, pendant deux jours, elle a arrêté de fumer. Mais le troisième jour…
So, for two days, she stopped smoking. But on the third day…
Elle avait perdu son passeport et sa montre préférée…
She had lost her passport and her favorite watch…
Donc elle était très nerveuse et avait très envie de fumer…
So she was very nervous and really wanted to smoke…
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