- I am 27 years old
- I get along with my 28 year old brother / 28 years old brother.
When should I use " year old" and "years old"?
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Sign up to join this communityWhen should I use " year old" and "years old"?
When used as a predicate adjective, that is, in a sentence that uses this word to describe a noun with a verb like "is" or "seems" or "becomes", you say "28 years old".
When used as an ordinary adjective, that is, preceding the noun as part of the subject or part of the object, you use "28-year-old", singular, with hyphens.
Examples:
"Bob is 28 years old."
"My 28-year-old brother Bob is coming to visit."
Possibly confusing case: "Bob is a 28-year-old man." "28-year-old" here is not a predicate adjective, but an ordinary adjective modifying "man". "Man" is a predicate nominative, but that's not really relevant to the point here.