You'll need numbers from your very first day of German — prices, times, phone numbers, ages. The good news: German numbers are regular. The catch: two-digit numbers are said "backwards".
1 to 12
eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn, elf, zwölf.
13 to 19
Add -zehn to the base: dreizehn, vierzehn, fünfzehn... (note sechzehn, siebzehn drop a sound).
The tens
zwanzig (20), dreißig (30), vierzig (40), fünfzig (50)... up to hundert (100).
The famous quirk: units before tens
German says the units before the tens, joined by und. So 21 is einundzwanzig ("one-and-twenty"), 45 is fünfundvierzig. It feels odd at first and becomes automatic with practice.
- 21 — einundzwanzig
- 36 — sechsunddreißig
- 99 — neunundneunzig
Say the ones first, then the tens. "Five-and-forty" is just how German counts.
Drill numbers until they stick
Our German course drills numbers in real contexts — prices, times, dates — explained in your own language. Start free or see pricing.