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Cette histoire a commencé il y a un millénaire.

Cette histoire a commencé il y a un millénaire.
This story started a millennium ago.
From Lesson 97:Past time marker (il y a...)·French

Questions & Answers about Cette histoire a commencé il y a un millénaire.

Wait, doesn't il y a usually mean "there is" or "there are"?
Yes, but when il y a is followed by an amount of time, it translates to "ago". So il y a un millénaire literally means "there is a millennium", but we translate it as "a millennium ago". You will typically see it paired with a past tense verb, like a commencé here.
Why is it cette histoire and not cet histoire since the word starts with a silent H?
Histoire is a feminine noun. The special demonstrative adjective cet (meaning this or that) is only used for masculine nouns that start with a vowel or a silent H (like cet homme). For feminine nouns, you always use cette, regardless of the starting letter.
If this happened a thousand years ago, why is a commencé in the passé composé instead of the imparfait?
The passé composé is used for specific, completed actions, no matter how long ago they happened. Because the act of starting (commencer) is a single, complete event in time rather than an ongoing background description, it takes the passé composé.
How do I know if histoire means "story" or "history"?
Context is your best clue! The word histoire translates to both. In this sentence, "This story started a millennium ago" is the most natural translation, but if you were reading about the formation of a country, it could easily mean "This history started a millennium ago".

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