Asking about years
To ask what year it is, the year something happened or will happen, or the year something is from, you need the word année.*Quelle année est-ce ? (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 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 ?
(In) 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 or when something happened / will happen, the choice between an and année depends on the type of number you're dealing with. (Of course, if the context is obvious, you can also leave out "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.
Notes
*Why? Because for all of these questions, année is modified by the interrogative quel
(see An vs année, section "duration words," point 2)
**Note that you can spell "thousand" mille or mil for all years up to and including 1999, though mil is less and less common the closer you get to the 21st century. From 2000 and up, mil is extremely rare outside of legal documents.
***Why does only this year have cents with an "s"? See my lesson on French numbers 100+.
