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I've recently noticed that I keep writing "an 1973 coin", and similarly for all the other dates that start with 1 (e.g. "an 1639 coin").
This does not only apply to coins, obviously, it's just the most common context (in my writing, at least) where an indefinite article comes immediately before a digit numeral. It also does not apply to dates starting with 2 (so "a 2015 coin").
(What's the correct word here for "digit numeral", incidentally?)

It sounds correct in my mind, but I suspect that I might be mentally sounding out digit numerals in my native language (or a form of it) rather than English, and apply the articles based on that.
Can that actually happen, what should I do to prevent it, and what is the correct English form (so that, if needed, I could apply it manually)?

January First-of-May
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  • The basic rule for using a vs an is not so much whether a number or consonant follows, but the sound that follows here. In your case: a 1972 coin since it is pronounced "nineteen seventy two". digit numeral = number – Peter Jan 20 '16 at 13:46
  • see rules for pronunciation of years in English. You should use a if the following sound is a vowel sound, and an if it's a consonant sound. – CowperKettle Jan 20 '16 at 13:50
  • I know when to use the articles, it's the "what the next sound" part I have trouble with: I suspect I'm sounding out the numbers in my native language when they're not spelled out directly. – January First-of-May Jan 20 '16 at 13:52
  • @FumbleFingers - I don't believe it's a duplicate, January just wants to know how exactly English-speaking people "imagine the pronunciation" of years then they see year numbers. P.S. I wonder how they imagine the pronunciation of years below year 1000. // "I suspect I'm sounding out the numbers in my native language when they're not spelled out directly." - then you just need to train a little in pronouncing year numbers in the English way. In Russian, we pronounce "two thousand sixteen", for instance, and it takes time to learn the English way. – CowperKettle Jan 20 '16 at 13:53
  • @CopperKettle: The rule, and therefore the only possible "correct" answer, is the same for all three questions (the one I cited is closed as a dup of “An hour” or “a hour”) Why would you wish to unnecessarily multiply the number of open questions when exactly the same (extremely simple) answer covers all of them? – FumbleFingers Jan 20 '16 at 13:58
  • @FumbleFingers - the answers to those questions do not explain how to spell out year numbers, as stangdon's answer does. I thought January already knew that we don't pronounce "an" before consonant sounds. – CowperKettle Jan 20 '16 at 14:03
  • @CopperKettle - basically this, yes, except it's more like I see 2016 and (in my head) pronounce in Russian "dve tisyachi shestnadtsat" (it's not even that, in my case, but you get the point). I know that "an" isn't used before consonant sounds, but I get confused whether there is a consonant sound (incidentally, I was saying and writing "a hour" until fairly recently, because I pronounced "hour" with an audible H, and still write "a honor" for the same reason). – January First-of-May Jan 20 '16 at 14:08
  • @CopperKettle: I'm sure How should numbers be spelled on a receipt? isn't the only question on ELL asking how Anglophones render digit sequences in speech, but surely even for a learners' site, it's pretty much general reference that the spoken version of *1973* starts with a consonant. The fact that OP might be tripped up by "vocalising" digit strings in his own native language is in principle "interesting", but scarcely worthy of an actual page on this site, imho. – FumbleFingers Jan 20 '16 at 14:11
  • @CopperKettle: I think that's misleading. The rule in this case is so simple it will always be noticed if anyone gets it wrong. – FumbleFingers Jan 20 '16 at 14:22
  • @FumbleFingers - yes, it will be noticed, but for a non-native speaker it's okay to make mistakes. With more reading and writing, he/she will get accustomed to proper usage. – CowperKettle Jan 20 '16 at 14:26
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    Whether you pronounce 1973 as "nineteen seventy-three", as most English speakers would, as "one thousand nine hundred seventy-three", or as "one nine seven three", in all cases it starts with a consonant sound, so you should use "a". Possibly ambiguous with a year like "1132", where most Americans would pronounce it "eleven thirty-two", thus calling for "an", but someone could pronounce it "one thousand one hundred thirty-two". – Jay Jan 20 '16 at 20:07

1 Answers1

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The choice of a or an is simply based on the pronunciation of the number, as it would be for any other word, and whether the number, as you read it, begins with a consonant sound or a vowel sound. So it would be, for example,

  • a nineteen-seventy-three coin, or
  • an eighteen-sixty coin

and in general,

  • a ten
  • an eleven
  • a twelve
  • a thirteen
  • a fourteen
  • a fifteen
  • a sixteen
  • a seventeen
  • an eighteen
  • a nineteen
stangdon
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