Hyphen Usage with Ages (with Examples)

Hyphens in Ages

• The compound-noun form; e.g., A twenty-four-year-old paid the first tribute.
• The compound-adjective form; e.g., She is a twenty-four-year-old woman.
• The predicate-adjective form; e.g., She is twenty-four years old.

The "Compound Noun" Form

• He is a two-year-old with attitude.
(This is a compound noun. (It is just like words like ice-axe or cooking-oil, which are also compound nouns.) The words in a compound noun are linked together to show they are a singular entity.)
• I look after three two-year-olds from 9 am to 11 am.
(As with most nouns, there is a plural version too.)

The "Compound Adjective" Form

• He is a two-year-old horse.
(This is a compound adjective. It is no different from word an adjective like two-page in two-page document.


• I look after three two-year-old horses.
(As with most adjectives, it can modify something singular or plural.)

The "Predicate Adjective" Form

• Jason is two years old.
(The predicate-adjective form appears after a linking verb (here, is) and after the noun it modifies (here, Jason). There is no need to use hyphens in the predicate adjective form.)
• Jason is twenty-two years old.
(This version contains a hyphen only because twenty-two is spelt with a hyphen under the rules for writing numbers in full.)