How to Talk About Years in French

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-C AEC	avant Jésus-Christ avant l'ère commune	BC BCE	Before Christ Before the Current/Common Era
ap. J-C EC	après Jésus-Christ ère commune, notre ère	AD CE	Anno Domini Current 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.