For example:
"That man is in his early 20s"
"That woman is in her mid 40s"
"That person is in their late 50s"
How would you say "early x", "late x", and "mid x" in Spanish when referring to age?
2 Answers
Colloquially you can say
That man is in his early 20s / Ese hombre tiene veintipocos (años)
That woman is in her mid 40s / Esa mujer tiene cuarenta y tantos (años)
That person is in their late 50s / Esa persona tiene cincuenta y muchos (años)
As pointed by mdewey in comments, you can also use suffix -y pico (y becomes i sometimes depending on the decade as you can see in my examples above). For me, it's not clear in which range I would apply it but probably early or mid. I think that veintipico can be considered as an equivalent of twenty-something.
Click linked words to access DRAE definition for those terms.
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@TomV Yes, it fits. But in most cases it denotes irony. It depends on the context, the person being mentioned, etc ... You can apply it to yourself in a humorous way: "Sí, tengo veintimuchos" (Tengo 37 años pero no lo he asumido todavía). I don't know if English speakers use "late whatevers" in the same way.– RubioRicCommented Oct 9 at 15:10
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Yes we do, but it's more of a stretch linguistically. The Spanish way of expressing it makes it not even untrue.– Tom VCommented Oct 9 at 15:48
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In this context I think I have heard y picos but perhaps I misunderstood.– mdeweyCommented Oct 10 at 16:08
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Following the order of the question title, it would be:
- Early 30's ↦ Treinta y pocos
- Mid 30's ↦ Treinta y tantos
- Late 30's ↦ Treinta y largos
or more informal:
- Trentipocos
- Trentitantos
- Trentilargos
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¿Alguna referencia para el uso de "y largos" que es la única que no había apuntado yo?– RubioRicCommented Oct 9 at 7:11
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Tu respuesta es en base al contenido de la pregunta, solo quise añadir el orden del título, que es sustancialmente diferente. Referencia Commented Oct 9 at 7:14
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Hombre, "sustancialmente" quizás es decir mucho. Aparte que no respetas el orden del título, sino el natural.– RubioRicCommented Oct 9 at 7:17
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1Tranqui, no me preocupan los votos negativos. Sólo quise añadir más datos a tu respuesta. El sitio está en declive, el único modo de mantenerlo vivo es colaborando entre todos, aunque algunos persistan en lo contrario. Commented Oct 9 at 9:43