"연세가 어떻게 되세요?"

Translation: How old are you?

[Dee205805]

Why isn't "What's your age?" accepted?

[Artikyulet]

I don't see anything in the sentence to imply "you". Couldn't "How old is she?" work here just as well?

[dasanders]

wondering the same thing

[HellsRels]

The topic is often dropped in conversational Korean because it is already given context.

This sentence assumes you are directly asking someone their age, which is common when first meeting someone new so people can apply the proper level of respect in speech. In this, listeners already know what the topic of the conversation is, so it isn't needed to be understood.

[GuyUnger]

We know that, and there's no context given which is why we're wondering if, in the right context, 'his', 'her' or w/e is also allowed for this sentence

[Tam111]

How do i know who I'm talking to? Is it implied?

[HellsRels]

It is.

[Laz.z.y]

How do you literally translate this sentence?

[robynea]

I think it would be "How did your age become"? (How as in condition not as in means so a more vague translation would be what did your age become)

[Seannette3007]

Is this the correct term to ask someone you are not very familiar with as opposed to 몇 살이 에요?

[josueetcom]

연세 is the honorific replacement for 살 so you would use that word (and this question form) when talking to/about anyone who deserves honor or who you want to highly esteem, e.g. grandparents, your boss, a stranger you want to highly esteem. Otherwise if you're talking to/about someone who's not much much older and not much much more important then it's still respectful to ask 몇 살이에요?

[DaisyEvera]

I'm a little confused because of 되다. Is this used in general to ask how old someone is (stative), or is it specifically if they had a birthday recently and you want to ask how old they turned?