Vastake - English

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Which is correct?: How older are you? vs How much older are you? (in comparison with your brother)

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exRanger profile picture exRangerSeptember 2019
"How much older..." is the correct option.
AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgAugust 2020
"How much older are you?" is the correct form.

To determine the comparative "A older than B" or "B older than A", we have the question:

"Is A older than B?".

For comparing "you" and "me", the question and answer is:

- "Are you older than me?"
- "No, you are older than me."

Great - we know that there is a difference in the number of years lived.

Then comes the question to quantify this difference.

If we talk about the number of years a person has lived, then the word "age" is uncountable.

e.g. He is 25 years of age.

We usually use the short form in conversation:

"He is 25." ( = "He is 25 years of age." )

The key word here is "age".

We are comparing between two people the difference of the (grammatically!!!) uncountable quantity "age".

So, you must use "much" in your question to quantify.

"How much older are you?" is therefore the correct question.

So, in context, a conversation might be like this:

- "Are you older than me?"
- "No, you are older than me."
-"How much older are you?"
-"I'm 40 and you're 25. I'm 15 years older than you."
yoespanol profile picture yoespanolApril 2013
Here, as far as my knowledge goes-
" Many " is used for countable nouns..." Much " is used for uncountable ones...Years can be counted...so using ' Many ' is appropriate, I think ...How many years is he/your brother younger to you? How many years are you older than him/your brother?
liveforthemoment profile picture liveforthemomentApril 2013
I think "How much older are you" is correct, but you can also say "how many years older are you?"
mac2210 profile picture mac2210December 2022
’much’ is used as an adverb with ’older’ . It’s not about countable or non countable nouns. We can use adverbs before adjectives, in this case a comparitive adjective. My brother is much older than me. How much older is your brother than you?
  • AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgDecember 2022
    Ummmm no. It’s all about about countable and uncountable nouns. ”much” being an adverb is a red herring.

    The reason why we use the bare comparative ”older” is because the comparative is being applied to an uncountable noun - ”age”.

    ”much” is used rather than ”many” ultimately because of the fact that ”age” is an uncountable noun.

    ”many” can also function as an adverb when we are describing countable nouns.

    Take for example a countable noun - people. Consider this snippet of conversation:

    - There are a lot of people older than me in the room!

    - How many older are there?

    - I’d say about half the people at the party.

    - Yes, there are many older here.

    In this instance ”many” modifies the adjective ”older” and is hence an adverb, just like ”much” in the ”much older” example.

    The ultimate reason why it is ”many” modifying the adjective ”older” here is because it’s describing the countable noun ”people”, just as ”much” is part of the descriptor of the uncountable noun ”age”...