So, where are we in time? This can be a bit tricky because we count time in millenniums, centuries, decades, years, months, days (and hours, minutes and seconds).
When talking about time, we use the terms B.C. and A.D., but what do they mean? They indicate the year and century time division within the Christian era, so B.C. is ‘Before Christ’, and A.D. is ‘After Christ’. You will also see the terms BCE (‘Before Common/Christian Era’) and CE (‘Common/Christian Era’).
Complete the timeline below, e.g. Eight hundred and seven A.D. = 807 A.D.
Right now, we are living in the 21st century, but this year is actually 2024, and the year 2124 will be in the 22nd Century. That’s why there was such a lot of debate at the turn of the century – how to say end of the century and beginning of the millennium dates correctly?
While some languages use Roman numerals to order the centuries, in English, we always count centuries in ordinal numbers. These rank the numbers in order and are very easy to remember when you recognise the pattern.
And after that everything is ‘th’
We can talk about the years in several different ways. For example,
While easy to write in numbers, the years can be difficult to say accurately in words. For example: 706; 1500; 1945; 2000; 2009; 2012; 2024! So many numbers - even advanced level learners often make mistakes!
In English, the years are normally divided into two parts so the easiest way to pronoun the dates is to say the first two numbers and then the last two numbers.
1984 is divided into 19 + 84 and you would say nineteen eighty-four
1492 = 14 + 92 = fourteen ninety-two
1066 = 10 + 66 = ten sixty-six
And then we got to the new millennium and things changed a little, starting with the year 2000 = two thousand. However, for the years 2001-2010, the most common way of saying the years is two thousand + number. Let’s look at some examples.
2000 = two thousand
2001 = two thousand and one (UK) / two thousand one (USA)
2005 = two thousand and five (UK) / two thousand five (USA)
For the years after 2010, you may hear different alternatives, for example
2012 = twenty twelve
2018 = twenty eighteen
2024 = twenty twenty-four
There are other alternatives because when the year ends in a number between 01 and 09, for example, 1802, then the last part of the number is pronounced as the name of the letter ‘oh’ + number,
807 = eight oh seven
1802 = eighteen oh two
2005 = twenty oh five
And be careful with pronunciation e.g. sixteen and sixty, or nineteen and ninety.
|
Years |
|
Years in words |
1 |
2000 |
A |
Ten sixty-six |
2 |
21st January 1982 |
B |
Thirty-second of March twelve hundred |
3 |
2009 |
C |
Nineteen forty-five |
4 |
1600 |
D |
Seven hundred and six / Seven oh six |
5 |
1066 |
E |
Two thousand |
|
1945 |
F |
Twenty-first of January nineteen eighty-two |
6 |
2024 |
G |
Twenty twelve |
7 |
1492 |
H |
Two thousand and nine / Twenty oh nine |
8 |
32nd March 1200 |
I |
Sixteen hundred / The sixteen hundreds |
9 |
706 |
J |
Fourteen hundred and ninety-two |
10 |
2012 |
K |
Twenty twenty-four |
In British English, dates are usually written:
25-06-2024 (day – month – year).
In American English dates are written:
06-25-2024 (month – day – year).
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Exercise 1:
Exercise 2: Match the years, dates, and words.
|
Years |
|
Years in words |
1 |
2000 |
A |
Two thousand |
2 |
21st January 1982 |
B |
Twenty-first of January nineteen eighty-two |
3 |
2009 |
C |
Two thousand and nine / Twenty oh nine |
4 |
1600 |
D |
Sixteen hundred / The sixteen hundreds |
5 |
1066 |
E |
Ten sixty-six |
|
1945 |
F |
Nineteen forty-five |
6 |
2024 |
G |
Twenty twenty-four |
7 |
1492 |
H |
Fourteen hundred and ninety-two |
8 |
32nd March 1200 |
I |
Thirty-second of March twelve hundred |
9 |
706 |
J |
Seven hundred and six / Seven oh six |
10 |
2012 |
K |
Twenty twelve |
https://oxinity.com/en/blog/imperatives-practice-exercises-examples/?idc=137544&f=20240626
https://oxinity.com/en/blog/time-adverbs-english-grammar-explanations-oxinity/?idc=137544&f=20240626
https://oxinity.com/en/blog/?post=4405&idc=137544&f=26062024
https://oxinity.com/en/blog/the-months-of-the-year-in-english/?idc=137544&f=26062024