1.
nineteen years old; age 19
The age of nineteen. In Japan, this is the final year before legal adulthood (成人) at age 20, though the legal age of majority for most civil-law purposes was lowered to 18 in 2022. Nineteen-year-olds are usually first- or second-year university students, or young workers in their second post–high-school year.
息子は十九歳です。
My son is nineteen years old.
十九歳で大学に入った。
I entered university at nineteen.
十九歳の誕生日に家族でレストランに行った。
For my nineteenth birthday, we went to a restaurant as a family.
十九歳の時、初めて一人で海外旅行に行って、世界が広がった気がした。
At nineteen, I traveled abroad alone for the first time, and it felt like my world had widened.
Composed of 十九 (nineteen) and the age counter 〜歳 (years of age).
READING NOTES:
Note the special reading 十九 — in isolation, 19 can also be read じゅうく}, but for the age compound {十九歳, じゅうきゅう} is the standard reading. The {歳 counter can also be written 才 in informal contexts.
CULTURAL CONTEXT:
In Japan, traditional coming-of-age age is 20, celebrated at 成人式 (the Coming-of-Age Ceremony). Since the 2022 civil-code change lowering the age of majority to 18, nineteen-year-olds are adults for most legal purposes, but drinking and smoking remain restricted until 20. In many families, the nineteenth birthday still feels like the last year of "being a kid."
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 十九歳の誕生日: nineteenth birthday
- 十九歳の時: when I was nineteen
- 十九歳で: at nineteen (at the age of)
- 十九歳の若者: a young person of nineteen
RELATED AGES:
- 十八歳: eighteen years old — now the legal age of adulthood in Japan
- 二十歳: twenty years old — special non-compositional reading; the traditional coming-of-age
- 二十一歳: twenty-one years old