DATES IN ENGLISH

English date - rules

Writing: Speaking:
1st October the first of October
10th May the tenth of May
16th January the sixteenth of January
27th March the twenty-seventh of March
30th June the thirtieth of June

years years in spoken English

10 BC ten before Christ (10 antes de Cristo)
8 Eight
711 seven hundred eleven - seven eleven
1001 one thousand and one
1020 ten twenty
1492 fourteen ninety-two
1800 eighteen hundred - eighteen oh-oh
1808 eighteen oh-eight
1986 nineteen eighty six
2000 two thousand
2004 two thousand and four
2010 two thousand and ten
2020 twenty twenty

In English we tend to read four-digit years as a pair of 2-digit numbers. “Nineteen six” didn’t sit
right with him though. This is probably because when he learned to tell time in English, he
learned that 2:03 is “two oh three”, not “two three”. So he asked about the years.
Of course, I answered that the latter was correct. You need to add the “o” sound when the tens’
digit is a zero. He followed up, “So 804 is eight oh four, right?”
“Well, you can say that, but ‘eight hundred and four’ is also correct.”
“Can you say ‘nineteen hundred and six’?”

As the conversation went on, I began to realize that the way we read years is a little
complicated. Being a native speaker of English, it comes natural to me so I’ve never thought
about it. But for foreign learners it can be confusing and ambiguous. After my conversation with
him I thought about it a little to see if I could find a pattern, and here is what I came up with:

Algorithm for Reading Years

1. If there there are no thousands’ or hundreds’ digits, read the number as-is. Examples:
o 54 – “fifty-four”
o 99 – “ninety-nine”
o 0 – “zero”
o 8 – “eight”
 2. If there is a thousands’ digit but the hundreds’ digit is zero, you can read the number as
“n thousand and x”. If the last two digits are zero, you leave off the “and x” part.
Examples:
o 1054 – “one thousand and fifty-four”
o 2007 – “two thousand and seven”
o 1000 – “one thousand”
o 2000 – “two thousand”

3. If the hundreds’ digit is non-zero, you can read the number as “n hundred and x”. If the
last two digits are zero, you leave off the “and x” part. Examples:
o 433 – “four hundred and thirty-three”
o 1492 – “fourteen hundred and ninety-two” (who sailed the ocean blue?)
o 1200 – “twelve hundred”
o 600 – “six hundred”

4. The above rule produces some formal and old-fashioned names. Where it exists, it is
acceptable to omit “hundred and”. If you do, and the tens’ digit is zero, you must read
that zero as “oh”. Examples:
o 432 – “four thirty-two”
o 1492 – “fourteen ninety-two”
o 1908 – “nineteen oh eight”
o 1106 – “eleven oh six”

5. Finally, though uncommon it is possible to read the years in rule #2 using the systems
for rules #3 and #4. Examples:
o 1054 – “ten hundred and fifty-four” (if this sounds wrong to you, imagine you are
watching a documentary on the history channel and the stiff narrator begins: “In
the year ten hundred and fifty-four, Pope Leo IX died.”)
o 1054 – “ten fifty-four”
o 3026 – “thirty twenty-six”
o 2007 – “twenty oh seven” (if this sounds wrong to you, imagine you live in 1972
and you are reading a science fiction story that starts: “In the year twenty oh
seven, the world was overrun by blood-thirsty robots.”)

These are OK:

1509 -six (hundred) (and) fifty

-fifteen oh nine [is it informal way of writing that
year?-- No] 2008
-fifteen hundred (and) nine -two thousand (and) eight
-twenty oh eight [is it informal way of writing that
1001 year?-- No]
-one thousand (and) one
-ten oh one [is it informal way of writing that year?-- 2012
No] -twenty twelve
-two thousand (and) twelve
1010
-ten ten 2020
-one thousand (and) ten -twenty twenty
-two thousand and twenty
650