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The year 1995 is read in English nineteen ninety-five.

This means we read the first two digits as a single number and then the next two digits, with the same rule.

Is this rule true in German?

I mean, should we read it as neunzehn-fünfundneunzig?

What about 2007?

nsandersen
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Jimmy
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    Related (in German): http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/9069/wann-ist-es-erlaubt-z-b-zwanzig-hundert-anstatt-zweitausend-zu-sagen – chirlu May 16 '15 at 05:57
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    Your German year is 1999, not 1995. – Jan May 16 '15 at 18:41

3 Answers3

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In German generally (i.e. not just in Germany but also in Austria and in Switzerland), years are pronounced like this:

  • 1015 (ein)tausendfünfzehn
  • 1115 elfhundertfünfzehn
  • 1215 zwölfhundertfünfzehn
  • 1315 dreizehnhundertfünfzehn
  • ...
  • 1815 achtzehnhundertfünfzehn
  • 1915 neunzehnhundertfünfzehn
  • 2015 zweitausendfünfzehn
  • 2115 zweitausendeinhundertfünfzehn

Or in words, the numbers are pronounced normally except that from 1100 to 1999, XYAB is pronounced as XY hundert AB.

PS: The English style of pronouncing years is also used occasionally as it is shorter, but it's only borderline correct.

user unknown
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    Additionally, following ponounciations are common:

    2015: Zwanzigfünfzehn; 1945: Neuzehnfünfundvierzig; generally, its also common to split the number in two numbers and concatenate them, as long as there is no number <10 involved.

     – rhavin May 16 '15 at 15:03
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    2115 zweitausendeinhundertfünfzehn We'll see, we'll see.. – TaW May 17 '15 at 03:30
  • @TaW: I agree this must change as the 22nd century approaches, but as it's quite likely that the English style will become standard way before that point anyway, I chose not to mention the fact. –  May 17 '15 at 08:20
  • Rarely, people say "zwotausendfünfzehn" as well. – ComFreek May 17 '15 at 09:44
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    @ComFreek: this is another story that has nothing to do with this topic. Zwo is actually only used instead of "zwei" on spelling long numbers - just to prevent one gets it wrong with the similarly sounding "drei" – äüö Mar 27 '18 at 07:10
  • In spoken language, people will say "neunzehn-füfnundneunzig" much more often than "neunzenhundert-und-fünfundneunzig". Also, for the 20th century, the century is sometimes ommitted. "Wann wurde Kohl gewählt?" - "Ich glaube, das war 82, und dann bis 98." – Polygnome Jan 26 '21 at 16:37
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The year 1995 is read neunzehnhundertfünfundneunzig. You might also hear neunzehnfünfundneunzig, but that is more colloquial.

2007 is read as zweitausendsieben, although you sometimes hear zwanzigsieben.

Burki
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  • More generally, years from 1100 (elfhundert) to 1999 are read as hundreds. Years before 1100 are treated like regular numbers. – chirlu May 16 '15 at 05:55
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    Ich habe kein Problem mit zB zehn-sechzig (1060), und bevorzuge idR neunzehn-zwanzig (1920) statt etwa neunzehn-hundert-zwanzig. Ich halte das keineswegs für umgangssprachlich. – Ingmar May 16 '15 at 06:04
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    @Ingmar: Ich höre das nie. Muß also irgendwie geographisch oder anderweitig ungleichmäßig verteilt sein. – chirlu May 16 '15 at 06:29
  • My experience is that it is used to distinguish years and numbers. Neunzehnfünfzig is a year, neunzehnhundertfünfzig is a number. – Mr Lister May 16 '15 at 07:30
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    @Mr Lister: The usual form for non-year numbers is tausendneunhundertfünfzig. – chirlu May 16 '15 at 10:06
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    I've never heard anyone use zwanzigsieben ever. Hearing neunzehnfünfundneunzig is quite rare, usually it's either neunzehnhundertfünfundneunzig or just fünfundneunzig when it's clear from the context which year is meant. – kapex May 16 '15 at 10:54
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    yes, but zwanzig-zehn or zwanzig-zwanzig are quite common, the former even idiomatic as in Agenda 2010.. – TaW May 16 '15 at 18:02
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    Instead of zwanzig-X, some people even say zwei-X or zwo-X, leaving out tausend – just like hundert last century. It saves another precious syllable. Also, two-digit years for the current century or ca. –80 and +20 years are heard sometimes, especially for iconic ones like ’45 and ’68. – Crissov May 16 '15 at 18:45
  • @TaW: You have a point about names like Agenda 2010 - however, I'm not convinced it can globally said to be "common". As a matter of fact, "Agenda zwanzig-zehn" strikes me as a modern form of "Behördendeutsch", something that could appear in legal documents, and in texts written by the chancellor's spokesperson, but which (at least here in South-Western Germany) hardly ever appears in actual spoken language. – O. R. Mapper May 16 '15 at 21:28
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The same pattern holds true for all year-numbers between 1100 and 1999. Some examples:

  • 1453 "vierzehnhundertdreiundfünfzig",
  • 1500 "fünfzehnhundert",
  • 1806 "achtzehnhundertsechs".

But 378 "dreihundertachtundsiebzig" and 1077 "eintausendsiebenundsiebzig".

2007 would be "zweitausendsieben" and 2018 "zweitausendachtzehn"

Hubert Schölnast
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David Mike
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    That doesn't seem to add anything that isn't already covered in another answer, besides the hyphens, which look odd to me. Or am I missing something? – Robert Feb 28 '18 at 15:17
  • I answered as per the question, I did not check others. – David Mike Mar 02 '18 at 07:53