How do you politely ask someone’s age in Korean?
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A1 Korean listening practice · Standard Korean · Curated for beginners
Korean has a gentler way to ask something personal: 어떻게 되세요?, literally “how does it turn out?” So 나이가 어떻게 되세요? is “may I ask your age?” and 성함이 어떻게 되세요? asks for a name. Compare 몇 살이에요?, which is direct and fine with friends. The -세요 ending adds respect, and the roundabout 되다 (“become”) makes the question feel less like an interview.
In this self-introduction lesson the teacher answers her own prompts, 저는 이제 25살이에요, then turns to the viewer: 이름이 뭐예요? 나이는 어떻게 되세요? 그리고 어느 나라 사람이에요? 또는 직업은 뭐예요? Note that she asks the name with the plain 뭐예요 and the age with 어떻게 되세요, so the roundabout form is saved for the more personal question. The 나이는 with -는 marks it as “as for your age,” part of a list of topics.