Years in English

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This page is about how years are said and read (and written) in English.

Judgements

key:

  • preferred
  • nothing wrong
  • sounds odd in most contexts or only okay formally
  • not okay
JNW's judgements about how different years can be said or read.
20th century
1900 nineteen nineteen oh (oh?) nineteen hundred one thousand nine hundred one thousand and nine hundred
1905 nineteen five nineteen oh five nineteen hundred five one thousand nine hundred five one thousand nine hundred and five
1910 nineteen ten nineteen one oh nineteen hundred ten one thousand nine hundred ten one thousand nine hundred and ten
1911 nineteen eleven nineteen one one nineteen hundred elevent one thousand nine hundred eleven one thousand nine hundred and eleven
1920 nineteen twenty nineteen two oh nineteen hundred twenty one thousand nine hundred twenty one thousand nine hundred and twenty
1995 nineteen ninety five nineteen nine five nineteen hundred ninety five one thousand nine hundred ninety five one thousand nine hundred and ninety five
21st century
2000 twenty twenty oh (oh?) twenty hundred two thousand two thousand
2005 twenty five twenty oh five twenty hundred five two thousand five two thousand and five
2010 twenty ten twenty one oh twenty hundred ten two thousand ten two thousand and ten
2011 twenty eleven twenty one one twenty hundred eleven two thousand eleven two thousand and eleven
2020 twenty twenty twenty two oh twenty hundred twenty two thousand twenty two thousand and twenty
2095 twenty ninety five twenty nine five twenty hundred ninety-five two thousand ninety-five two thousand and ninety-five
22nd century
2100 twenty one twenty one oh (oh?) twenty one hundred two thousand one hundred two thousand and one hundred
2105 twenty one five twenty one oh five twenty one hundred five two thousand one hundred five two thousand one hundred and five
2110 twenty one ten twenty one one oh twenty one hundred ten two thousand one hundred ten two thousand one hundred and ten
2111 twenty one eleven twenty one one one twenty one hundred eleven two thousand one hundred eleven two thousand one hundred and eleven
2120 twenty one twenty twenty one two oh twenty one hundred twenty two thousand one hundred twenty two thousand one hundred and twenty
2195 twenty one ninety five twenty one nine five twenty one hundred ninety-five two thousand one ninety-five two thousand one ninety-five

The problem

As seen in the chart, the 20th and 22nd centuries have the same rules for pronunciation of the year, but the 21st century seems to have its own rules.

Possible explanation

The problem seems to stem from the fact that in English, hundreds can be counted by any number lower than 100, except for the tens higher than 10 (i.e., 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90). If hundreds could be counted by 20, then "twenty hundred" would okay, whereas if hundreds couldn't be counted by 19, then "nineteen hundred" would not be okay. The restriction on using "oh" in nn0n combinations seems to be identical.

Because "twenty hundred" is not okay in English, the previously only formal pattern was used colloquial, and the year 2000 was called "two thousand". Subsequent years followed this pattern due to the restriction on "{20, 30, etc.) oh ...": i.e., "two thousand one", "two thousand two", etc.

With the year 2010 a problem arose. The "two thousand n" pattern was already in standard colloquial usage (and even before the year 2010 came around, foreseeable to be in standard usage), though the restriction which caused it (*"twenty hundred", *"twenty oh five") no longer applied. This meant that (by analogy?) "two thousand ten" became the preferred colloquial reading of what might otherwise be "twenty ten", though both appear to be used in current colloquial usage (in mid 2010).

Follow-up research

There should be some research done to determine how the year was pronounced before the year 2000 rolled around, and before its first decade was commonly referred to in English. An example would be to see how Arthur C. Clarke pronounced the name of his 1982 novel and the subsequent 1984 film named "2010: Odyssey Two". This sort of information would help to sort out whether the preference for "two thousand ten" was due to ten years of saying "two thousand n", or whether it would've been the default way of saying it before that too.