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In English 1886 would be pronounced "eighteen-eighty six." In Spanish, is there something similar? Or do people outright say:

El año mil ochocientos ochenta y seis

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We say mil ochocientos ochenta y seis – Laura Jun 19 '12 at 6:39
The only shortening of years I have ever heard were simply a decade as in "the 80's" would be "las ochentas" – joseph4tw Dec 17 '12 at 19:07

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Yes, in Spanish there is generally no way to abbreviate the years. The only time it is used is referring to the years in the XX century. Example:

Do you remember that concert back in eighty-nine?

Recuerdas ese concierto en el ochenta y nueve?

Other than in that case, the full year is pronounced. Even for this century's years.

Do you remember that concert in two thousand and five?

Recuerdas ese concierto en el dos mil cinco?

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The question is not about abbreviations in years, but saying years. – JoulSauron♦ Jun 19 '12 at 11:21
Yes, I understood that. In my answer I was also talking about the way to say it verbally ;) – Rorok_89 Jun 19 '12 at 15:06
@JoulSauron: "Nineteen ninety-eight" and "Two thousand four" are verbal abbreviations in English. The question is asking if this is possible in Spanish. – Flimzy♦ Jun 21 '12 at 4:35
@Flimzy I've always thought that they were the actual ways of saying years. Do you mean then that pronouncing the whole number in a year is correct? – JoulSauron♦ Jun 23 '12 at 17:50
@JoulSauron: The longer forms are correct, too. For example "Nineteen hundred and ninety-eight." We do the same thing with addresses. The address "1998 Somestreet" could be "Nineteen ninety-eight somestreet," "Nineteen hundred ninety-eight Somestreet" or "One thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight Somestreet." The last form is rarely, if ever, used with years in modern writing or speech, though. – Flimzy♦ Jun 23 '12 at 18:25
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In Puerto Rico, we use a short form like "mil ocho ochenta y seis"

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Also in Argentina - but only coloquially – leonbloy Jun 22 '12 at 18:44
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The way to say years is the same as it would be a normal number, there is no distinction whether the number is a quantity or a year. So you are right with your example:

El año 1886.

El año mil ochocientos ochenta y seis.

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That's right. I've also heard argentinians saying 'mil ocho ochenta y seis', but I'm not sure how common this pronunciation is. – cgc Jun 19 '12 at 13:13
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Just for completeness' sake I will add that in Spanish there is no "shortcut" to say numbers larger than 1000. For example: 1200 can be "one thousand two hundred" or "twelve hundred". There is no such thing in Spanish. That number, as a year or as a number, will always be "mil doscientos". – Sergio Romero Jun 19 '12 at 14:43

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