pronunciation of years in English

[valskyfrance]

hey,

is it correct if I say :

en l'an 2000 = in the year two thousand (seems strange...)
2010 = two thousand and ten
2025 = two thousand and twenty five ...

thanks

have a good evening


Moderator notes:
See also similar threads in the English Only forum.
If you're interested in the French pronunciation of years, have a look here.

 

[floise]

valskyfrance,

Yes, you can say them that way, or you can say 'two thousand ten (without the 'and'), 'two thousand twenty five' or you can say 'in the year twenty ten', 'in the year twenty twenty-five'.

 

[CDHMontpellier]

Yes, theoretically you can say "twenty-ten", but I haven't heard many people use this yet (I'm still waiting for it to catch on!). Most people seem to prefer "two thousand ten" for the moment.

 

[Gargamelle]

"In the year 2000" is correct.

I don't know about the other two, since I think that here in the US, people will be likely to say "twenty ten" and "twenty twenty-five," since we say "nineteen twenty-five."

I think "two thousand and ten" and "two thousand and twenty-five" sound OK, but I think we'll end up saying "twenty ten", etc.


Gargamelle

 

[Mikie8421]

I agree with Gargamelle. I think most people from my corner of the US would say "twenty ten" or "twenty twenty-five."

Mike

 

[valskyfrance]

thanks guys
cheers

2k = année 2000 ?

 

[Gargamelle]

Y2K (Y for year, of course)

Gargamelle

 

[wildan1]

Or to shorten it, we say in 08 ("oh-eight" -- 2008)

Just the other day I heard on TV "the proposed budgets for 09 and 0-10" (pronounced "oh-nine and oh-ten") That sounded very strange to me!

I think we are still getting used to how we say these years that have so many zeroes in them.

 

[Gargamelle]

After all, it's been a thousand years since we were last confronted with this problem....
(No, I don't remember what we said in 1008!)

...and English and French and people's conception of time have changed so much since then.

Gargamelle

 

[PIKILIA]

I agree with wildan1:
2-oh-1
2-oh-2...
2-oh-12
and then two thousand and XX

 

[Maped40]

After all, it's been a thousand years since we were last confronted with this problem....
(No, I don't remember what we said in 1008!)

...and English and French and people's conception of time have changed so much since then.

Gargamelle

But you say "ten sixty-six" don't you?

 

[valskyfrance]

After all, it's been a thousand years since we were last confronted with this problem....
(No, I don't remember what we said in 1008!)

...and English and French and people's conception of time have changed so much since then.

Gargamelle

hi hi maybe : ten oh eight for 1008 ;-)

 

[wildan1]

hi hi maybe : ten oh eight for 1008 ;-)

It's funny now that you ask. We do indeed say ten-sixty-six for the famous historical year of 1066 (Norman invasion).

But ten-oh-eight for 1008 sounds like the time of day (10:08), so I would be inclined to say the year one thousand and eight, at least to introduce the topic .

 

[valskyfrance]

Well, good to learn this. Thanks

 

[valskyfrance]

It's funny now that you ask. We do indeed say ten-sixty-six for the famous historical year of 1066 (Norman invasion).

But ten-oh-eight for 1008 sounds like the time of day (10:08), so I would be inclined to say the year one thousand and eight, at least to introduce the topic .

Do we say : in one thousand (and) eight, to say : en 1008.? or in the year 1008 ?.
thanks again

 

[wildan1]

I would start a conversation with "in the year...." just because that kind of date is not often heard, unless the context makes it clear (a history course, etc.). After that became clear, I would just say one thousand eight or even ten oh eight

 

[George French]

UK-EN

1914 Nineteen fourteen
1939-1945 Nineteen thirty nine to fourty five.
2001 Twenty ooh 1.
2001 Two thousand and one.
2008 Two thousand and eight
2010 Twenty ten
2025 Twenty twenty five.
2220 In 212 years it will be two thousand two hundred and twenty or more probably twenty two twenty.

We count years in centuries; dunno why, but we do! It seems to be easier to do the first 10 years of the millenium differently...

Will it be:-
The year is two million, four hundred thousand, six hundred and twenty five. 2400625?

GF

 

[carina aca]

In my experience in the U.S., "twenty-oh-eight" and those constructions are not nearly as commonly used as "two-thousand eight" or "oh-eight." In the live news and in conversation "two-thousand eight" is more common. "Twenty-ten" would be much more informal. It's a matter of personal taste which you use, but in general unless you're comparing dates quickly (like for budgets or something similar), the full "two-thousand eight..." is more common.

Note that we say "nineteen thirty-five" - never use an "and" with years 11-19. For contracts and other formal documents (marriage certificates, diplomas, and even wedding or other invitations), you might see "in the year one-thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine" written out. This format is limited to those types of documents.

As for other "in the year" uses, the only instance that occurs to me would be a cliched history introduction which I find redundant. It might even be an opportunity to say "two-thousand and eight," because clearly the interest is not to keep clause short and direct. "In the year two-thousand and eight, the United States economy..."

 

[valskyfrance]

Many thanks Carina aca and George French for your very interesting explanations, it helps me a lot.
have a good evening
Cheers

 

[vaniochka]

Hi people,

So i'm having trouble finding out how to say that date : 1300, or any other date like that (1400, 1500...). Should it be like "in one thousand and three hundred" ? Thanks a lot, I hope you can help me !

 

[SteveD]

In BE, these would normally be:

1300 = Thirteen hundred
1301 = Thirteen oh one
1302 = Thirteen oh two
1310 = Thirteen ten
1311 = Thirteen eleven

until

2000 = Two thousand
2001 = Two thousand and one or Twenty oh one
2002 = Two thousand and two or Twenty oh two
2010 = Two thousand and ten or Twenty ten

 

[Minaeth]

Hi!

I don't know how to pronounce "800" when talking about the year, like in "Charlemagne was crowned in 800."

My attempt: "in eight hundred". It sounds wrong.


Any native English speakers around to help?

Thanks a lot

 

[Randisi.]

In my experience, it would usually be written and pronounced either as "in the year 800" or "in 800AD." Or in the newer system "800CE."

 

[Minaeth]

Ok, but would you mind writing the figures in full letters? Sorry but it's still unclear for me, as some dates are to be read differently (in 235: in two thirty-five, is that right?)

 

[SwissPete]

My attempt: "in eight hundred". It sounds wrong.

Nothing wrong here.

(in 235: in two thirty-five, is that right?)

In this case: in two hundred thirty five.

 

[guillaumedemanzac]

I came up with this thread on a search and now we are in 2013, most people seem to have settled for the last millenium system which was 10-66, 11-38,
16-03 (oh 3), 19-14, 19-09 (oh 9), 19-72, 19-99, 20-15, 20-45, 20 -60.
I think the reason the millenium changed everything was because it was grandly called the year two thousand - and people began to say two thousand and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, but by two thousand and ten, quite a lot of people had already reverted to 20-10 because two thousand and seventy-eight is a lot longer than 20-78 or even just '78 - that is not likely at the moment because if you say in '89, everyone will assume you mean last century e.g. when you were born!

 

[Pedro y La Torre]

In this case: in two hundred thirty five.

That sounds suspiciously American.

In British English, the "and" is not optional so one would say, "two hundred and thirty five"; however I'd be more likely to say "in two three five".

 

[funnyhat]

I agree with wildan1:
2-oh-1
2-oh-2...
2-oh-12
and then two thousand and XX

This isn't correct. The zeros in 2001, 2002 are not pronounced as "oh". You can do that for the abbreviations ('01, '02). But not in the full year.

2001 is always said as "Two thousand (and) one." There is no common alternative. This is true for all the years from 2000 to 2009.

Starting with 2010, you can say either "Two thousand ten" or "twenty ten." But for the single-digit years, there is only "two thousand ____".

 

[drassum]

Bonsoir à tous et bonne année.

Quelqu'un pourrait-il m'indiquer comment dire le 0 dans une date telle que 1905? "o", "naught" ?

Un grand merci pour votre aide.

 

[OLN]

Bonjour drassum.

On a répondu ici et dans d'autres discussions : Are there two ways of saying 1901?
nineteen oh five

 

[Barelytenor]

Zero, naught, aught/ought, and null are all ways of saying the digit 0 in English. "Oh" or "O" is of course, technically o/O, the letter not the number.

"Nineteen oh five" is how "1905" is mostly commonly pronounced, although "nineteen zero five" is more technically correct (and slightly less often heard). Some of the old-timers in America say "nineteen ought five" or "nineteen aught five," different spellings for the same meaning. That usage does seem to be mostly the older generation (and if they are a generation older than I am, they are pretty old).

 

[Franglais1969]

In BE I have never heard zero used, (I agree that it is technically correct, and that "O" is not a number). With dates, we always say nineteen O five.

It is the same with telephone numbers, although I have, very occasionally, heard zero used.

 

[drassum]

So, I guess Ican say and write nineteen oh five. Thank you for your answers.

 

[bloop123]

Australian English here (most of the time similar to British English).

19 oh five sounds very natural to me

In reference to telephone numbers I notice that we mostly say oh for zero. (Older people tend to say naught though) However if the 0 is at the end of the number it sounds better to say zero. Eg if the number is 0434570 I would say oh 43457 zero (hopefully this makes sense)

 

[Jean-Michel Carrère]

This is a question for British people only. Today I met two English people who told me they would most likely pronounce the year 2022 as "two thousand and twenty-two". This came to me as a surprise as I thought most British people had gone back to the pre-year-2000 classic way of pronouncing years in English, and would therefore pronounce that year as "twenty twenty-two". Can you confirm "two thousand and twenty-two" is the more common way of pronouncing the year in British English ? Any additional comment on the approximate percentage of the British population you think would use this pronunciation (as opposed to "twenty twenty-two") would also be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Pedro y La Torre]

I'm not British (désolé) but I'm not far off. Twenty twenty two is far more common than two thousand and twenty two. I don't know anyone who says that (though there are surely a few holdouts here and there). Once we reached 2012 or so, the whole "two thousand and..." fell by the wayside. I don't remember hearing it used at all after 2016 or so.

 

[Jean-Michel Carrère]

Many thanks for your reply. This is exactly what I thought personally (and teach my students ...).
Now, that is very interesting ... and puzzling at the same time, considering what those two British people told me yesterday ... I will definitely have to sort this out with them next time I see them ...

Any Britons out there to confirm or refute Pedro's opinion on this ?

 

[Pedro y La Torre]

Well, moustic gave me a thumbs up. 😎

 

[Jean-Michel Carrère]

Quote : Well, moustic gave me a thumbs up. 😎

Indeed ... (I had missed that, I am afraid) 😵

Thank you as well, sound shift.

Well, I think this settles it, in my view, at least. I am really looking forward to discussing this with these British people again.

 

[sound shift]

Thank you as well, sound shift.

De rien. I was agreeing with Pedro, by the way. I should have made that clear.

 

[Son of a preacher man]

Just thought I'd point out that twenty is actually pronounced twenny pretty much universally.
It's also very common to hear free for 3, sem for 7, fahsun for thousand, especially in SE England.

 

[broglet]

I live in London which last time I looked at the map was in SE England and I rarely or never hear such pronunciations, except for 'free' (from some Londoners) and 'twenny' (from Americans and Antipodeans)