Numbers
Count from null to hundert and read prices, times, and ages.
Zero to twelve: just memorize these
The first thirteen numbers are their own words, like in English. Say them out loud until they feel automatic; everything above twelve is built from them.
| 0-3 | 4-6 | 7-9 | 10-12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| null, eins, zwei, drei | vier, fünf, sechs | sieben, acht, neun | zehn, elf, zwölf |
Zwei Kaffee, bitte.
Two coffees, please.
Es ist zwölf Uhr.
It is twelve o clock.
Teens: number + zehn
From 13 to 19 you glue the small number onto zehn: dreizehn, vierzehn, fünfzehn. Two spellings shrink: sechzehn (not sechszehn) and siebzehn (not siebenzehn).
Sie ist dreizehn Jahre alt.
She is thirteen years old.
Er ist siebzehn.
He is seventeen.
Tens and the famous German flip
The tens end in -zig: zwanzig, dreißig (note the ß), vierzig, fünfzig, sechzig, siebzig, achtzig, neunzig, then hundert. Above twenty, German says the ones digit FIRST: 21 is einundzwanzig, literally "one-and-twenty". 45 is fünfundvierzig.
Das kostet einundzwanzig Euro.
That costs twenty-one euros.
Meine Mutter ist fünfundvierzig.
My mother is forty-five.
Check yourself
- How do you say 21 in German?
- Which spelling is correct?
- "fünfunddreißig" is:
- What comes after neunzig?