How to count in German
Enter a number and read it spelled out in German.
Language overview
West Germanic language of the Indo-European family, German (Deutsch) is the official language of Germany, Austria, Switzerland (alongside with French, Italian and Romansh), Luxembourg (with Luxembourgish and French) and Liechtenstein. It counts 100 million speakers.
German numbering rules
- Digits and numbers from zero to twelve are specific words: null [0], eins [1], zwei [2], drei [3], vier [4], fünf [5], sechs [6], sieben [7], acht [8], neun [9], zehn [10], elf [11], and zwölf [12].
- From thirteen to nineteen, the numbers are formed from the matching digits, adding the word for ten (zehn) at the end: dreizehn [13], vierzehn [14], fünfzehn [15], sechzehn [16], siebzehn (and not siebenzehn) [17], achtzehn [18], and neunzehn [19].
- The tens are formed by adding the suffix -zig at the end of the digits, with the exception of ten, twenty and seventy, still irregular, as well as thirty: zehn [10], zwanzig [20], dreißig [30] (-zig becomes -ßig), vierzig [40], fünfzig [50], sechzig [60], siebzig [70], achtzig [80], and neunzig [90].
- From twenty-one to ninety-nine, the tens and units are joined with the und (and) word, but in reverse order, as the unit is said before the ten (e.g.: einunddreißig [31], fünfunddreißig [35]).
- Hundred (hundert) and thousand (tausend) are not separated from the other numbers by a space (e.g.: hunderteinundzwanzig [121], tausendzweihundertneunzehn [1,219]).
- The unit eins (one) loses its final -s when composed in a number, unless it is the only value after a scale name (e.g.: hunderteins [101], tausendeins [1,001]).
- The German language uses the long scale for big numbers where every new word greater than a million is one million times bigger than the previous term. Thus, eine Milliarde is 109 (the US billion), and eine Billion (1012) worths a thousand US billions.
Books
- In English
- Schaum’s Outline of German Grammar, 4ed [
,
], Elke Gschossmann-Hendershot, Lois Feuerle, McGraw-Hill (2009) - Comprehensive German Grammar [
], Jonathan West, Blackwell Publishers (2003) - In Spanish
- Lehr- und Übungsbuch der deutschen Grammatik. Prácticas de gramática alemana [
,
], Hilke Dreyer, Richard Schmitt, Hueber Verlag (2001) - In French
- Guide de grammaire allemande [
], Nestor Schumacher, Henri Bouillon, De Boeck Education Secondaire (2007) - Bescherelle Grammaire Allemande [
], Hatier (2000) - Grammaire de base de l’allemand [
,
], Distribooks (2000)
Numbers list
| 1 – eins 2 – zwei 3 – drei 4 – vier 5 – fünf 6 – sechs 7 – sieben 8 – acht 9 – neun | 10 – zehn 11 – elf 12 – zwölf 13 – dreizehn 14 – vierzehn 15 – fünfzehn 16 – sechzehn 17 – siebzehn 18 – achtzehn | 19 – neunzehn 20 – zwanzig 30 – dreißig 40 – vierzig 50 – fünfzig 60 – sechzig 70 – siebzig 80 – achtzig 90 – neunzig | 100 – hundert 1,000 – tausend one million – eine Million one billion – eine Milliarde one trillion – eine Billion |
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