Question
1. Two years old
2. Two-year-old
What's the difference? Why we remove s from years?
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Question
1. Two years old
2. Two-year-old
What's the difference? Why we remove s from years?
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"two-year-old", the whole thing, is an adjective because of the dashes. In this form, it can be used to describe a noun. The "s" is not present because "year" is not being used individually as a noun describing "two". Its just how it is. In the first 1, the noun "year" is plural (e.g. one year, two years, etc) describing "two".
Maybe this example sentence will help you understand better:
"How old are you?" The man asked,
"I am two years old," said the two-year-old girl.
"I am eight years old," said the eight-year-old girl.
"Two-year-old" describes the noun which in this case is the girl. These types of adjectives with dashes don't have the "s" for plural. Another example: "fifty-foot building". Notice its not "fifty-feet building". This is how it is in English, I guess.
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Thank you!!
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Both of these phrases are compound modifiers—they modify nouns—but one of them can also act as a noun itself.
"Two years old" is an adjective phrase used after the noun it modifies: The child is two years old. No hyphens here, and the "years" is plural because it matches a plural count "two." In this case "year(s)" is used as a measuring unit.
"Two-year-old" is also an adjective phrase, but it is used BEFORE the noun it modifies: The two-year-old child ate lunch. The hyphens are necessary to avoid confusion by grouping the phrase as if it is one word that modifies the noun "child." The "s" is dropped from "year" because it is used in a hyphenated phrase that identifies a particular modification ("two-year-old" instead of "four-year-old." Compare this to "red" versus "green"). Maintaining a singular form in this construction is also seen in phrases such as "the three-foot-long stake" versus "the stake is three feet long" OR "the hundred-meter dash" versus "the dash was a hundred meters."
On the final note, "two-year-old" can also act as a noun itself: The two-year-old ran through the house. Context is key here because we are assuming that this "two-year-old" is a human child.
Hope this helps!
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