Languages › French How to Talk About Years in French Print Christopher Robbins/Getty Images French Grammar Pronunciation & Conversation Vocabulary Resources For Teachers By ThoughtCo Team Updated on February 21, 2020 Saying what year it is or when something happened in French can be a bit tricky because this language has two different words that mean "year." For certain years, there are also two different ways to say the actual numbers. Asking About Years in French To ask what year it is, the year something happened, the year something will happen, or the year something is from, you need the word année. Quelle année est-ce?/Quelle année sommes-nous? (less common) 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 es-tu né?/Quelle est l'année de ta naissance? What year were you born? En quelle année vas-tu déménager?/Tu vas déménager en quelle année? What year are you going to move? De quelle année est le vin?/Le vin est de quelle année? What year is the wine (from)? Saying Years When talking about what year it is, when something happened, or when something will happen, the choice between an and année depends on the type of number you're using. Of course, if the context is obvious, you can leave out the word "year" entirely. With round numbers (those ending in 0), you need l'an C'est l'an 2010. It's 2010. En l'an 900. In the year 900. With all other numbers, use l'année: C'est l'année 2013. It's 2013. En l'année 1999. In 1999. Era specification av. J-CAEC avant Jésus-Christavant l'ère commune BCBCE Before ChristBefore the Current/Common Era ap. J-CEC après Jésus-Christère commune, notre ère ADCE Anno DominiCurrent Era, Common Era Pronouncing Years How to say the year itself depends on the century in question. When talking about years up to and including 1099, or from 2000 and up, the year is stated the same as any other number: 752 sept cent cinquante-deux 1099 mille quatre-vingt-dix-neuf mil quatre-vingt-dix-neuf 2000 deux mille 2013 deux mille treize For years between 1100 and 1999, there are two equally valid options 1) Pronounce it like a regular number. 1999 mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf mil neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf 1863 mille huit cent soixante-trois mil huit cent soixante-trois 1505 mille cinq cent cinq mil cinq cent cinq 1300 mille trois cents mil trois cents 2) Use the centaines vigésimales (or vicésimales) counting system: break the year into two pairs of two- digit numbers, and place the word cent between the pairs. Traditional spelling 1990 spelling reformation 1999 dix-neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf dix-neuf-cent-quatre-vingt-dix-neuf 1863 dix-huit cent soixante-trois dix-huit-cent-soixante-trois 1505 quinze cent cinq quinze-cent-cinq 1300 treize cents treize-cents Writing Years In official documents and on monuments, years are often expressed with Roman numerals. Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Talk About Years in French." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/years-in-french-1368976. Team, ThoughtCo. (2023, April 5). How to Talk About Years in French. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/years-in-french-1368976 Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Talk About Years in French." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/years-in-french-1368976 (accessed September 5, 2024). copy citation We Care About Your PrivacyWe and our 100 partners store and/or access information on a device, such as unique IDs in cookies to process personal data. You may accept or manage your choices by clicking below, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, or at any time in the privacy policy page. These choices will be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data.We and our partners process data to provide:Store and/or access information on a device. Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources. Develop and improve services. Use limited data to select content. List of Partners (vendors) Accept All Reject All Show Purposes