Century

Question

How do I pronounce 1900 ? I mean in the school I was teached to pronounce, say, 1998 "nineteen ninetyeight"... but "nineteen zerozero" for 1900, or "twenty zerozeto" sounds me very strange...

could someone help me ?

thanks everybody

MountainHiker · Accepted Answer

Hi Guest,

It looks as though you are referring to the year 1900.

In that case, nineteen hundred. (19 times 100).

1942. Nineteen fourty two.

If it is a number rather than a year, 1900 is pronounced one thousand nine hundred.

Hope that helps.

MountainHiker

Matthewg · Answer

And you'd pronounce 2000 as "the year two thousand."

So:

1800 = eighteen hundred
1900 = nineteen hundred
2000 = the year two thousand
2005 = two thousand and five

Guest · Answer

Today in my linguistics class we talked about this, how choose to pronounce large numbers. More specifically, we were trying to come up with what to call the 00's (1900-1909, 2000-2009, for instance).

2005 = two thousand and five

that's technically wrong given that you should not say "and" without there being a decimal point present. It's really 2005. In the year two thousand five.....

The reason for my post
2000 = I think it's perfectly acceptable (mainly because I've heard it before even though I don't say it) to say "twenty hundred" for 2000 or twenty oh-one for 2001. It's much like for the TV show "The 4400." It's pronounced "the forty-four hundred." It seems natural to group larger numbers into smaller sections. In the U.S. it used to be done to a greater extent with telephone numbers. My father always says ***-***-5580 (fifty-five eighty) instead of the more current "five five eight zero". I know that in other countries they group the numbers together as such into smaller units.

How much money do you have? Do you have one thousand twelve hundred dollars or do you have 1200 dollars?

MountainHiker · Answer

Hi Mattewg,

I usually pronounce 2004 or 2005 as two thousand four or two thousand five. I skip the "and".

Just another variation.

MountainHiker

MountainHiker · Answer

Hi Guest,

I encourage you to register. That way I can refer to you by name rather than "guest". Also, guests must wait to have their comments posted. I had already posted my response while your response was still waiting in the queue to be displayed.

Do you have one thousand twelve hundred dollars or do you have 1200 dollars?

Do you see the error?

You you have one thousand two hundred dollars, or you have 1200 dollars?

As far as the "and" goes with two thousand AND five, it is not a big deal. As soon as you begin discussing years with native English speakers, this point will become readily apparent. I am not sure about the "decimal rule" either. If the number was 2548.56, I would say,"two thousand five hundred fourty eight point five six." Others might say it differently. There might be differences depending on location and occupation. Accountants might say it one way, engineers another, astromers yet another. When you are with the group you are conversing with, you will quickly pick up how they say their numbers. I tend to use as few words as possible.

Hope that helps.

MountainHiker

Anonymous · Answer

YOU WOULD SAY "NINETEENHUNDRED" OR "TWOTHOUSAND"

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