Pronouncing Dates?

1900 => nineteen hundreds nineteen hundred The year itself is singular (no s). But if you are talking about the CENTURY (the years between 1900 and 1999), then you say nineteen hundreds and use the s on the end. (1900's)

1908 => nineteen O eight This is very common (the 0 is pronounced like the letter, not like the number.) But I've heard nineteen zero eight a few times, also.

(I'm in the US, and I think there may be other ways of referring to the 0. Someone may be able to add to this response.)

1955 => nineteen fifty-five yes, as far as I know

2000 => two thousand yes, as far as I know

Hi,
I'll take advantage of this post to ask this:

Nineteen, fifteen, eighteen, etc. (19, 15, 18, etc.) - I know the stress is on "teen", nineTEEN, fifTEEN, eighTEEN, etc.

1998 - Nineteen ninety-eight
1960 - Nineteen sixty
1990 - Nineteen ninety

Where is the stress in dates? I think I've heard "NINEteen ninety-eight" (stress on NINE), but I'm not sure where the stress can be placed.
Thanks

>> I know the stress is on "teen", nineTEEN, fifTEEN, eighTEEN, etc. <<

Really? I stress the first syllable. All Germanic words in English stress the first syllable except prefixes such as be-.

I hope other people have something to say in response to the last two posts.

I'm out of time and answers right now.

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These links might have some helpful information.

http://www.EnglishForward.com/English/FreeAudioSitesAndSoftware/bdnlw/Post.htm

I'd say that we put the stress on teen only when the numbers (13, 14, 15, etc.) are spoken alone. When they are part of a larger number, the stress normally falls on the first syllable.

Marvin A.>> I know the stress is on "teen", nineTEEN, fifTEEN, eighTEEN, etc. <<

Really? I stress the first syllable. All Germanic words in English stress the first syllable except prefixes such as be-.

Ooops, I see Merriam-Webster lists both ways. Anyway, the rest of the dictionaries I use only show the stress on "TEEN". However, as Orpheus said, I noticed for years like 1998 many people tend to say "NINEteen ninety-EIGTH".

Yes, most people say "two-thousand-[whatever]", but it is not logical. Following the model,
1900 should be "nineteen-hundred" (or "nineteen-O-O"?) and 1901 should be "nineteen-O-one". Like you write, it is A model -- one model. Why should there be a special rule when the first digit is 2?

People just continued pronouncing the years after 2000 as "two-thousand-[whatever]", cause they didn't think much about it.

I don't think it's a big deal how people pronounce the first decade of the 2000s, but if we say "twenty-ten", and follow the model from there, it will save us all an enormous number of syllables uttered and listened to if we add them up.

Erik

Ok