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an

year

noun on Common

Usage Note

An counts years as units, as in j'ai vingt ans or il y a deux ans, whereas année stresses the year as a span you live through, hence bonne année!. The nasal vowel makes it a homophone of en, so context and number do the disambiguating.

Examples

"Elle a trente ans."

Natural Translation

She's thirty years old.

Literal Translation

She has thirty years.

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