"연세가 어떻게 되세요?"

Translation: How old are you?

[Dee205805]

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

[yoongiibae]

In my opinion it seems a bit informal...
Doesn't sound very honorific?.

[Artikyulet]

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

[Braelach]

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

[dasanders]

wondering the same thing

[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)

[SeanFogart4]

I get "How may I {state/put} your age?" as I have it that 되다 is acting as the honorific of 하다 here.

[Tam111]

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

[Braelach]

It is.

[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?

[Dhwani_.911]

Just like Hindi - आप कितने साल के हैं) or हो गए? Seeing like this makes some sense

[APLin1]

Is there any situation in which it is socially acceptable to ask this question?

[Amy863635]

I would also like to know if this is a normal question in Korea. Where I live it would usually be considered rude to ask an adult this question. A previous Duolingo sentence, “Mister, why are you fat?” would also be considered rude here - is that okay in Korea too?

[Adaira96]

As far as I know in Korea it is quite common to ask for people's ages in order to know how to properly address them... I'm not sure if it would be considered rude to ask that to an elderly person though...

[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?

[WildWildBasch]

되다 here is used to ask how old someone is (not how old they've become). This verb has several meanings including to be, to become or to turn. It is the honorific way of asking "몇 살이에요"