How to Say the Years in German: A Comprehensive Guide

Guten Tag! If you’re learning German and want to know how to properly express years in the language, you’ve come to the right place. This guide will walk you through both the formal and informal ways of saying the years in German, providing useful tips, examples, and regional variations if necessary. By the end of this article, you’ll be confident in speaking about years in German conversationally. Los geht’s! (Let’s get started!)

Formal Ways of Expressing Years

Formal language is often used in official settings, written correspondence, and when addressing authoritative figures. Here’s how to say years in a formal manner:

1. The Full Year: When expressing a year in formal writing or in formal contexts, you can simply state it as a series of individual numbers. For example: “2020” would be said as “zwei null zwei null” (two zero two zero).
2. Ordinal Numbers: In formal situations, you may also use ordinal numbers when referring to specific years. For instance, “2019” would become “zweitausendneunzehn” (two thousand nineteen).
3. Greeting or Addressing: When greeting someone formally and mentioning the current year, you can use the phrase “Frohes neues Jahr!” (Happy New Year!).

Informal Ways of Expressing Years

Informal language is what you’ll find in everyday conversations and casual situations among friends, family, or acquaintances. Here’s how to say years in an informal manner:

1. The Full Year: If you want to mention a year casually, you can simply say all the digits individually. For example, “1990” would be pronounced as “neunzehn neunzig” (nineteen ninety).
2. Shortened Year: Informally, you can also shorten the year by removing the “thousand” part. So, “2020” would become “zwanzig” (twenty). However, be aware that this form may lead to ambiguity if the century is not implied by the context.
3. Abbreviations: Some years have commonly used abbreviations in German, especially the 20th century. For example, “1945” can be stated as “45” or “neunundvierzig” (nineteen forty-five).
4. Greeting or Addressing: When wishing someone a happy new year in an informal setting, you can use the phrase “Guten Rutsch!” (Have a good slide!). This phrase is often used on New Year’s Eve or in the days leading up to the new year.

Examples and Tips

Here are some examples and additional tips to further enhance your understanding of expressing years in German:

• Decades: When referring to decades, Germans often drop the “hundreds” and only mention the last two digits. For example, “the 80s” would be “die Achtzigerjahre” (the eighties), or simply “die Achtziger” (the eighties) informally.
• Centuries: While it’s common in English to say “nineteen hundred” for the year 1900, Germans usually say “Tausend neunhundert” (thousand nine hundred). For example, the year 1905 would be “Tausend neunhundert fünf” (thousand nine hundred five).
• Separating Numbers: Germans use spaces to separate numbers, unlike in English where commas are typically used. For instance, “1,000” in English becomes “1 000” in German.
• Hyphenated Numbers: When expressing ranges of years, Germans typically use hyphens. For example, “from 1990 to 2000” would be “von neunzehnhundertneunzig bis zweitausend” (from nineteen hundred ninety to two thousand).

Regional Variations: It’s important to note that German can vary slightly depending on the region. For instance, in southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, the number “2” is often pronounced as “zwo” instead of “zwei.”

Now armed with this knowledge, you’re ready to confidently express years in German conversations, be it in formal or informal settings. Remember to adapt your usage based on the context and enjoy your German language journey!

Alles Gute! (All the best!)