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When talking about age we don't use any verbs, for example:

我二十岁。

What about when you need to deny someone's age? Do we use 不是 or 没有?

我不是二十岁。 or
我没有二十岁。

Thanks

1 Answer 1

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Yes, we use 不是 and 没有, for different meaning.

我不是二十岁。  
I'm not twenty years old. (Probably 10, or 30, ...)

我没有二十岁。
I'm less than twenty years old.

PS: You could use such as 我是二十岁 to emphasize the fact (that you're twenty). And when asked with the specified age, we usually answer it with using . e.g.

你是二十岁吗?
我是二十岁。

When asked about the age generally, we usually answer it without using .

你多大?
我二十岁。
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  • more generally cf."外国人实用汉语语法",第三节|名词谓语句 Sentences with nominal predicates 一、以名词、名词性偏正词组等作谓语,表示籍贯、年龄、日期、节气、职业、节日、钱数等句子,叫名词谓语句。名词谓语句的基本格式是:主语_谓语(名词、数词、数量词组或名词性偏正词组)他研究生。(名词)昨天阴天。明天元旦,今天三十(号)。(数词)他十九岁。(数量词组)他中国人。(名词性偏正词组)这辆自行车一百八十六块钱。二、名词违语句的语法特点(一)名词谓语句的谓语可由少数名词,数词、数量词组或名词性偏正词组直接充当。例如:她医生。明天十月四号。今天晴天。这块肥皂六毛六。他二十一(岁)。他哪里人?现在五点半。(二)某些名词谓语句中的谓语前边可以有状语。例如:今天已经星期五了。他今年二十多岁了。现在才六点。这些一共八块九毛三。三、使用名词谓语需要注意的问题(一)汉语里名词谓语句比较少。 主语和谓语之间不用动词"是"连接. 例如:下星期一春节。这快手绢五毛。我二十。他外国人。如果在名词谓语句的谓语前边用上动词"是",就变成了动词谓语句。 (二)否定名词谓语时要在原句谓语前边用"不是",而不能用"不" ,例如:下星期一不是春节。这快手绢不是五毛。我不是二十。他不是外国人。
    – user6065
    Aug 12, 2016 at 0:09
  • @user6065 So you mean the option with 没有 is wrong? Aug 16, 2016 at 14:54
  • above quotation only concerns the general question of negative form for sentences with nominal predicate (predicate is 名词 or 名词性偏正词组) of which 我二十岁 is an example。The positive form "有N岁" seems to mean "already (at least) N years old" (jukuu has 2 examples for "有多少岁";我不知道他多少岁, 但是他看上去有四十多岁了 looks well over / past forty.是你问老师她有多少岁的吗? 可真有你的!) and is not of the nominal predicate type, 我没有二十岁 of course can be considered the negative form of 我有二十岁. Find more examples at jukuu for the positive form 有岁: attain the age of (年龄)有...岁了
    – user6065
    Aug 16, 2016 at 21:16

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