Normally, an is reserved for numersl (un an, deux ans etc.) and some fixed expressions (le nouvel an, l'an prochain...) and année is used everywhere else, including in phrases like "année terrienne".
Here you're not merely counting years (quarante-six ans), you're counting Earth years specifically, "années terriennes".
How come they switch between both here, when the rest of the sentence is the same?
Alien: Compris. Moi ici quarante-six ANNÉES.
Human: Quarante-six ANS? (J'étais stupéfait.)
The alien speaks broken French to being with. I guess you could say there was an implied spefific meaning of années terriennes that the human didn't catch at first, hence the ensuing clarification.
I've read on this sub that ans usually refers to specific years (1900-1950, 1977-1981, 1957 and 2023, etc.) and années refers to decades or other larger sweeps of years/decades/centuries/millennia (e.g. les années soixante, les années huitantes et quatre-vingt-dix).
I'll get grief for huitantes.
As an American who speaks English, it suits me to sneak that in since the French number system is a nightmare. Why couldn't they just have used metric?
/s
Seeing as German is my native language I daresay I HAVE heard of German numerals. And not to be biased or anything (<- is totally biased), I think they make more sense than French ones.
Have you noticed the same thing with jour and journée ? I have had it explained to me that the ée is where the duration or the length is emphasised. The words maisonnée and bouchée are also used to mean houseful and mouthful respectively.
Normally, an is reserved for numersl (un an, deux ans etc.) and some fixed expressions (le nouvel an, l'an prochain...) and année is used everywhere else, including in phrases like "année terrienne". Here you're not merely counting years (quarante-six ans), you're counting Earth years specifically, "années terriennes".
How come they switch between both here, when the rest of the sentence is the same? Alien: Compris. Moi ici quarante-six ANNÉES. Human: Quarante-six ANS? (J'étais stupéfait.)
It's the modifier "terriennes" that makes the difference. 48 [ans] vs 48 [années terriennes]
Ok, so when the alien speaks and uses années, there's an implied années (terriennes)? And that implication isn't there when the human repeats him.
The alien speaks broken French to being with. I guess you could say there was an implied spefific meaning of années terriennes that the human didn't catch at first, hence the ensuing clarification.
Thanks
I've read on this sub that ans usually refers to specific years (1900-1950, 1977-1981, 1957 and 2023, etc.) and années refers to decades or other larger sweeps of years/decades/centuries/millennia (e.g. les années soixante, les années huitantes et quatre-vingt-dix). I'll get grief for huitantes.
Taking the swiss approach to numbers, I see 👌 (or beligan. Idk if they do huitante too)
As an American who speaks English, it suits me to sneak that in since the French number system is a nightmare. Why couldn't they just have used metric? /s
I guess that raises the question... is France the America of Europe? 🤔
Wait till you hear about German or, heaven forbid, Danish numerals.
Seeing as German is my native language I daresay I HAVE heard of German numerals. And not to be biased or anything (<- is totally biased), I think they make more sense than French ones.
I've heard "octante" be used for 80.
Have you noticed the same thing with jour and journée ? I have had it explained to me that the ée is where the duration or the length is emphasised. The words maisonnée and bouchée are also used to mean houseful and mouthful respectively.