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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 ? | When (What year) did she arrive? | |
Il va obtenir son diplôme en quelle année ? En quelle année va-t-il obtenir son diplôme ? |
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:
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):
C’est 2020. En 2020. |
It’s 2020. In 2020. |
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C’était 2005. C’était en 2005 |
It was 2005. It was in 2005. |
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C’était 1870 C’était en 1870 |
It was 1870. It was in 1870. |
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Elle est de 2019. | It’s from 2019. It’s a 2019 (car model). |
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Il date de 2005. | It dates back to 2005. |
1) Years ending in 0 require l’an:
C’est l’an 2020. En l’an 2020. |
It’s 2020. In 2020. |
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C’était l’an 2000. C’était en l’an 2000. |
It was 2000. It was in 2000. |
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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 2019. En l’année 2019. |
It’s 2019. In 2019. |
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C’était l’année 2005. C’était en l’année 2005. |
It was 2005. It was in 2005. |
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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:
412 | quatre cent douze | |
888 | huit cent quatre-vingts | |
1099 | mille quatre-vingt-dix-neuf | mil quatre-vingt-dix-neuf** |
2000 | deux mille | |
3019 | trois mille dix-neuf |
1) These years can be pronounced like normal numbers, as above:
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 or followed by the word cent(s).***
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 |
*** Why does cent sometimes end in -s? See Numbers 100 and up.
As in English, years in French can be differentiated with one of two common notation systems.

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