How to Read Years in English

Algorithm for Reading Years

1. If there there are no thousands’ or hundreds’ digits, read the number as-is. Examples:
   • 54 – “fifty-four”
   • 99 – “ninety-nine”
   • 0 – “zero”
   • 8 – “eight”
2. If there is a thousands’ digit but the hundreds’ digit is zero, you can read the number as “n thousand and x”. If the last two digits are zero, you leave off the “and x” part. Examples:
   • 1054 – “one thousand and fifty-four”
   • 2007 – “two thousand and seven”
   • 1000 – “one thousand”
   • 2000 – “two thousand”
3. If the hundreds’ digit is non-zero, you can read the number as “n hundred and x”. If the last two digits are zero, you leave off the “and x” part. Examples:
   • 433 – “four hundred and thirty-three”
   • 1492 – “fourteen hundred and ninety-two” (who sailed the ocean blue?)
   • 1200 – “twelve hundred”
   • 600 – “six hundred”
4. The above rule produces some formal and old-fashioned names. Where it exists, it is acceptable to omit “hundred and”. If you do, and the tens’ digit is zero, you must read that zero as “oh”. Examples:
   • 432 – “four thirty-two”
   • 1492 – “fourteen ninety-two”
   • 1908 – “nineteen oh eight”
   • 1106 – “eleven oh six”
5. Finally, though uncommon it is possible to read the years in rule #2 using the systems for rules #3 and #4. Examples:
   • 1054 – “ten hundred and fifty-four” (if this sounds wrong to you, imagine you are watching a documentary on the history channel and the stiff narrator begins: “In the year ten hundred and fifty-four, Pope Leo IX died.”)
   • 1054 – “ten fifty-four”
   • 3026 – “thirty twenty-six”
   • 2007 – “twenty oh seven” (if this sounds wrong to you, imagine you live in 1972 and you are reading a science fiction story that starts: “In the year twenty oh seven, the world was overrun by blood-thirsty robots.”)