-årsåldern
Swedish edit
Etymology edit
From år (“years”) + -s- + åldern (“the age”), "the X-years age."
Suffix edit
-årsåldern
- (in "i X-årsåldern," with X a multiple of ten) aged (at least and) around the specified number of years
- en man i femtioårsåldern
- a man (having turned and) around fifty years old (see the usage notes below)
- en 30-nå(go)nting
- a 30-something (for comparison)
- (in "i X-årsåldern," otherwise) aged the specified number of years
- Synonym: -årig
- en man i 27-årsåldern
- a man aged 27 / a 27-year-old man
- en man i 30–40-årsåldern
- a man in his thirties (roughly)
- the specified age
- att träna efter sextioårsåldern
- to exercise after sixty (can also be expressed as "efter sextio")
- När hon nådde sjuttioårsåldern var hon mycket svag
- By the time she reached her seventies (reached the age of seventy), she was very weak
Usage notes edit
"50-årsåldern" (as an arbitrary example) is often used to translate "fifties" and vice versa, but this can be inaccurate, as seen above. The intuition is closer to "early fifties." When it matters, "He is in his fifties" can more accurately be translated as "Han är i 50–60-årsåldern" or "Han är mellan 50 och 60." Another possibility is the informal "Han är 50-nånting" (He is 50-something). This might be considered an anglicism by some, but appears in newspapers.
"Late fifties" might require some rewriting like "nära sextio" (close to sixty), "närmare sextio än femtio" (closer to sixty than fifty), "närmade sig sextio" (was approaching sixty), or giving an exact age, though "sena femtioårsåldern" appears sporadically as well. Another rare but but fairly idiomatic-sounding (and literary-sounding) alternative is "i sina sena femtio."