Certified Pediatric Nurse (CPN)

When should a child typically start using two to three-word sentences?

1. 18 months

2. 2 years

3. Greater than 3 years

4. Under 15 months

The correct answer is: 2 years

Two to three-word sentences typically start to emerge when a child is around 2 years old. At this age, children are generally developing their vocabulary and gradually transitioning from single words to combining words into short phrases that convey meaning. This milestone is part of normal language development, where toddlers begin to express more complex thoughts or requests, laying the foundation for further language skills as they continue to grow. By 18 months, children usually say single words and may start to use simple two-word combinations, but the structured use of two to three-word sentences becomes more prominent at the age of 2. After this age, children continue to refine and expand their language skills significantly, often moving on to longer sentences, but the transition to more complex sentence structure typically begins around the 2-year mark.