Years in French - Lawless French Grammar + Pronunciation


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Ans, années

What year is it?

While this may seem like a simple question, it’s kind of complicated in French. In addition to two different words for "year," French has two different ways to pronounce certain years.

What year, In what year, When …

Asking when (what year) something happened or will happen requires en quelle année.

Par exemple…

En quelle année est-on ? En quelle année sommes-nous ?		What year is it?
C’était en quelle année ?		What year was that (in)?
Cela s’est passé en quelle année ?		What year did that happen?
En quelle année est-elle arrivée ? Elle est arrivée en quelle année ?		When (What year) did she arrive?
En quelle année va-t-il obtenir son diplôme ? Il va obtenir son diplôme en quelle année ?		When (In what year) is he going to graduate?

But to talk about the year something began or was created, you need de quelle année.

Par exemple…

De quelle année est la voiture ? La voiture est de quelle année ?		What year is the car (from)?
De quelle année date ce service ? Ce service date de quelle année ?		What year did this service begin?

It’s (the year), In (the year) …

There are two ways to answer the above questions. The easy way is with just the year itself preceded by the appropriate preposition (if any).

Par exemple…

C’est 2020. En 2020.		It’s 2020. In 2020.
C’était 2005. C’était en 2005.		It was 2005. It was in 2005.
C’était 1870. C’était en 1870.		It was 1870. It was in 1870.
Elle est de 2019.		It’s from 2019. It’s a 2019 (car model).
Il date de 1999.		It dates back to 1999.

However, if you want to include the word "year" when answering en/de quelle année questions, the actual number of the year dictates whether you need to use an or année.

1) Years ending in 0 require l’an:

C’est l’an 2020. En l’an 2020.		It’s 2020. In 2020.
C’était l’an 2000. C’était en l’an 2000.		It was 2000. It was in 2000.
C’était l’an 1990. C’était en l’an 1990.		It was 1990. It was in 1990.

2) All other numbers are used with l’année:

C’est l’année 2025. En l’année 2025.		It’s 2025. In 2025.
C’était l’année 2003. C’était en l’année 2003.		It was 2003. It was in 2003.
C’était l’année 1968. C’était en l’année 1968.		It was 1968. It was in 1968.

How to Pronounce and Write Years

The vast majority of years – everything up to and including the year 1099, and everything from 2000 and later – are pronounced like normal numbers.

Par exemple…

412		quatre cent douze
888		huit cent quatre-vingt-huit
1099		mille quatre-vingt-dix-neuf / mil quatre-vingt-dix-neuf**
2000		deux mille
3019		trois mille dix-neuf

However, each year from 1100 to 1999 has two correct pronunciations, and each of those has two correct spellings.**

1) These years can be pronounced like normal numbers, as above.

Par exemple…

1112	mille cent douze	mil cent douze
1444	mille quatre cent quarante-quatre	mil quatre cent quarante-quatre
1800	mille huit cents	mil huit cents***
1975	mille neuf cent soixante-quinze	mil neuf cent soixante-quinze
1999	mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf	mil neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf

** The French equivalent of "thousand" can be spelled mille or mil, but the latter is somewhat archaic. The closer the year is to the modern day, the more likely it is to be spelled mille.

2) Or they can be stated with the centaines vigésimales (aka centaines vicésimales) counting system, with the year broken into pairs of two-digit numbers separated by the word cent.***

Par exemple…

	Traditional spelling	1990 spelling reform
1112	onze cent douze	onze-cent-douze
1444	quatorze cent quarante-quatre	quatorze-cent-quarante-quatre
1800	dix-huit cents	dix-huit-cents***
1975	dix-neuf cent soixante-quinze	dix-neuf-cent-soixante-quinze
1999	dix-neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf	dix-neuf-cent-quatre-vingt-dix-neuf