#Is there a more colloquial way of saying years in german like in english?

23 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

near skiff
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I'm talking about in english instead of saying two thousand twenty-two, saying twenty twenty-two. And I guess also instead of saying the full year saying something like saying 04 or 92 instead of 2004 or 1992

pure valley
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It is exactly the same. You can use short forms as well and they are perfectly understandable

near skiff
pure valley
pure valley
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Nur 22?

atomic grove
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for example you can not say "null vier" for 2004, it sounds weird for all years up to and including 2020, since then it's theoretically possible but i've not heard it too much lately, maybe people aren't yet really used to doing it like we did in the 90s? not sure

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but yes, it'll be perfectly understandable if you say e.g. "zweiundachtzig" for 1982, as long as it's clear from context you're talking about years

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one notable difference is that i'd say you'll never hear "neunzehnhundert null vier" like you'd hear: "nineteen oh four", it'll always be: "neunzehnhundert vier"

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note that i'm deliberately writing them wrong to make it easier to read 😅 if you were supposed to write out german numbers you'd write them together, luckily it's not something one has to do (unless you want to torture yourself)

pure valley
# atomic grove it's not *exactly* the same, but yes it's close

You don’t say 04 (zero four) either in English, you say 2004. Therefore I see a perfect match between colloquial parts of both languages. Besides, since we are talking about a colloquial world (Umgangssprache), I believe everything is legal as long as it is understandable (within a context of course)

atomic grove
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i'd bet money on having heard that before

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so again, it's not exactly the same, but very close, yes

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regarding "everything is legal", well. yes and no.

arguably you can say everything as long as it's understandable, but it'll just make communicating a chore. i'm with you that you don't have to be perfect, but it should be your goal to come as close to the natives as possible

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and even if you'd argue that "nineteen oh four" doesn't exist (while google says it does), i'd again like to stress the fact that in German we do prefer to say: "achtzehnhundertzweiundfünfzig" instead of "achtzehnzweiundfünfzig",(1852) even in colloquial speech, in case the century needs to be made clear - but it'll brutally butchered, to a point where you can barely hear the "-hundert":

here how you'd pronounce 1944 'correctly': https://forvo.com/search/1944/de/

and this is me butchering it in a way you'll hear it all the time in colloquial speech: https://voca.ro/1jFwi54DVlsT

pure valley
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Btw, I really don’t disagree what you are stating. I’m just trying to emphasize that there can’t be strict rules for colloquial languages, you can’t bring rules or say “it’s like that”. As they grow organically and they diminish organically too. The validity is volatile. For instance I was cross-checking what I’ve said about nullvier and coincidentally found out that this form also has such a usage in German :)) Schalke’04. How do you pronounce Schalke’04? Schalke Neunzehnhundertvier oder Schalke null vier? Anyway, as said, I believe there should be no strict rules as long as you can communicate

atomic grove
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haha, good point with Schalke, although that's an entirely different thing as it's a name of its own, it's not a short form for Schalke 1904, even though yes that's the meaning by itself

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there's also Bayer04 Leverkusen btw

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same thing with them 😅

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and with "strict rules", well.. language develops, but following most rules makes communication easier, and especially for a learner it's better to follow them... once you're B2+, you can take off the training wheels and fly 😄

pure valley
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I totally agree 🙂 I had to forget (unlearn) almost half of what I’ve learned till B1. Unlearning was a painful process which I still suffer 🙂 there are really more exceptions than the rule itself :)) You start learning exceptions starting from B2