Could you tell me how to read years? Can I read 2003 as "twenty three", like "nineteen ninety (1990)"?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
Here is a guide for how native English speakers say years: Years before 2000 with "zero" in the "tens" place value (ex: 1704, 1809, 1902, etc.): Say the number in the thousands/hundreds place value (ex: seventeen), followed by saying the letter "o" (which is said instead of "zero"), and then the number in the "ones" place value (ex: two). Therefore, the year "1809" is spoken as "eighteen o nine". The year "1902" is spoken as "nineteen o two". Years in the 2000s with "zero" in the "tens" place value (ex: 2001, 2005, 2009): Say "two-thousand", then the number in the "ones" place value. For example, "2001" is spoken as "two thousand one" and "2009" is spoken as "two thousand nine". Years with digits above "zero" in the "tens" place value before year 2000 (ex: 1782, 1834, 1950): Say the first two numbers as a complete number, then the last two numbers as a complete number. For example, 1782 is spoken as "seventeen eighty-two" and "1950" is spoken as "nineteen fifty". Years in the 2000s with digits above "zero" in the "tens" place value (ex: 2011, 2015, 2020): You can either say "two thousand" followed by the number in the tens/ones place values (ex: "2011" is said as "two thousand eleven") or you can say the first two numbers as a complete number, then the last two numbers as a complete number (ex: "2020" is said as "twenty twenty") I hope this guide helps you!
