# I am 15 years old



## ThomasM

How do I say and write this sentence in Kanji?

I am 15 years old


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## zefee

私は十五さいです。
I think thats right but im not sure

zef


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## Wishfull

Hello, ThomasM.
zefee is right, and we can use one more kanji at the portion of "sai=years old".

私は十五歳です。(watashi ha jyuugo sai desu)
私は十五才です。(watashi ha jyuugo sai desu)

私は＝I
十五＝15
十＝10
五＝5
才＝歳＝years old (才 is the easier to write form of 歳. 歳 might be more formal kanji than 才, but usually we can use both equally.）
です＝am

Hope this helps.


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## Demurral

Wishfull said:


> です＝am



I have anything to say but: desu is the conjugated form of "dearu" - "to be". Japanese has no personal inflection, so "desu" would mean "am/are/is/are/are/are" depending on context.

Apart from this not-so-necessary-but-useful-for-a-learner detail, Wishfull's explanation was perfect.

hope it helps!


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## Morrow

ThomasM said:


> I am 15 years old



The "am" itself permits a couple of interpretations:

(1) になりました/になった as in a sentence like "I'm 15 years old today."

(2) になります/になる　　as in a sentence like "I'm 15 years old tomorrow."

A little imagination will help you come up with a situation where "になります/になる" works for the original sentence.

But it may not be a good idea to identify "am" as "です."
The verb "am" is used to describe who the subject person "I" is, but "です" may have a different function.

Compare this:
(3) a. 空は青い.
     b. 空は青いです.

Word-for-word translation may be misleading.  
Morrow


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## Demurral

That was a good one!


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## Wishfull

Morrow said:


> Word-for-word translation may be misleading.
> Morrow


Hello, 
I think Morrow and Demurral are correct.
My explanation may be misleading.
I tried as simple as I could and I used "=" which was the biggest mistake.

Please think that the equation is available only at that sentence.
"=" here doen't mean man-to-man, word-to-word, one-to-one correspondence.
Please think multiple-to-miltiple, (one-of-the-multiple-English)-to-(one-of-the-multiple-Japanese) correspondence.
I took it as a matter of course, which might be a big mistake. I am sorry. 

*私は＝Ｉ*
*“私は” means "I" in this context.*
 Which do you prefer? If you like the latter, I will write according to that style from now on.


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## zefee

Wishfull said:


> Hello,
> I think Morrow and Demurral are correct.
> My explanation may be misleading.
> I tried as simple as I could and I used "=" which was the biggest mistake.
> 
> Please think that the equation is available only at that sentence.
> "=" here doen't mean man-to-man, word-to-word, one-to-one correspondence.
> Please think multiple-to-miltiple, (one-of-the-multiple-English)-to-(one-of-the-multiple-Japanese) correspondence.
> I took it as a matter of course, which might be a big mistake. I am sorry.
> 
> *私は=I*
> *“私は” means "I" in this context.*
> Which do you prefer? If you like the latter, I will write according to that style from now on.


Or you could just write it at the top like
*In this context*
私は=I
才= age

etc, and give a little warning that under certain circumstances words may change (somthing I still find annoying, as I'm still a beginner)


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## Wishfull

zefee said:


> Or you could just write it at the top like
> *In this context*
> 私は=I
> 才= age


 
It's it!  I'll do zefee's.
Thanks.


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## Demurral

zefee said:


> (somthing I still find annoying, as I'm still a beginner)


When it comes to japanese...if you are not native: you are AlwAys a beginner, and most of the times it may be annoying!! ^^ just kidding.


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## arrikitukis

I have a question about the kanji "sai" 才,　歳。I'm thinking of taking Nihongo no Noryôku Shiken 2kyuu this July. So, if i had to choose between 才 or　歳 for saying "sai", which one should i choose? ^^"

I thought that 才 was only to avoid the writing of 歳, though...


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## Starfrown

arrikitukis said:


> I have a question about the kanji "sai" 才,　歳。I'm thinking of taking Nihongo no Nouryoku (the first vowel is long, not the second) Shiken 2kyuu this July. So, if i had to choose between 才 or　歳 for saying "sai", which one should i choose? ^^"
> 
> I thought that 才 was only to avoid the writing of 歳, though...


 
I think they'll probably stick to 歳 for age in the 能力試験 especially if it's 二級. I think you're right about 才; I seem to remember reading that it should strictly only refer to "talent" but came to be used as a simple substitute for 歳 because it shares the same 音読み (I knew a Japanese guy in college who hated the use of 才 for age).

As far as I know, the test does not assess writing ability at all, so simply being able to recognize both will be enough.


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## arrikitukis

You're right, it's nôryoku 

Thanks for the answer ^^


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