Chronological expression . The Royal Spanish Academy establishes specific spelling norms to correctly write numerical expressions referring to centuries, decades and years.
Summary
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- 1 Expression of the centuries
- 2 Expression of the decades
- 3 Expression of the years
- 4 Sources
Expression of the centuries
Centuries are always written using Roman numerals: XXI century, XII century. The different calendars take as a reference for the beginning of the chronological calculation a relevant fact in the history of the community that uses them. This fact marks the beginning of the period of time called era, in which the computation is inscribed. In the Gregorian calendar, this relevant fact is the birth of Jesus Christ, hence our era is traditionally called the Christian era, although it is also called the common era due to its widespread use in the Western world.
When it is necessary to specify if the indicated century is before or after the start of the computation, conventional abbreviations are used: a. by JC, a. de C., a. JC or a. C. (‘before [Jesu] Christ’), ane (‘before our era’), aec (‘before the common era’) and d. of JC, d. of C., d. JC or d. C. (after [Jesu] Christ ‘), dne (‘ after our era ‘), dec (‘ after the common era ‘).
Expression of the decades
In Spanish , the decades: the ten-year periods referring to each of the tens that make up a century, are preferably expressed using the cardinal numerals that designate each ten, always in the singular (the twenties, the thirties , forty).
Although the use of cardinal numerals is always preferable, the decades can also be expressed with figures: the 20s. Since the numeral with which the decades are expressed must always be used in the singular, formulas are not admissible if the decade is written with figures. as the 30s or the 30s , copied from English.
Expression of the years
Except for the possibility of using Roman numerals, the years are always written with Arabic numerals: year 977, 1998, 2010. The mention of a year can also only be made with the last two digits: 95. In Spanish it is unnecessary and inadvisable to write an apostrophe to indicate the deletion of the first two digits of a year, a use due to the influence of English and that usually appears in the mention of relevant events held in certain years: Barcelona’92 (to refer to the Olympic Games held that year) ; In Spanish, the last two figures are enough: Barcelona 92.
To indicate the years before and after the time of the beginning of the computation of our era, if that forecast is necessary, the same conventional abbreviations that have been mentioned in relation to the centuries can be used: 211 a. C., 123 d. C., 45 BC It is not considered adequate to express the years prior to the start date of the computation of our era by extrapolating the writing pattern of negative numbers in mathematical notation: placing the minus sign before the year figure. In the dating of letters and documents, it is frequent that before the date, the place where they are written is also mentioned. In these cases, a comma is placed between the place and the date. A comma is also written between the name of the day of the week and the day.
