How to count in Pennsylvania German

Enter a number and read it spelled out in Pennsylvania German.

Language overview

Pennsylvania German (Pennsilfaanisch-Deitsch, Pennsilfaani-Deitsch), also known as Pennsylvania Dutch, is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European family, of the High German group. Mostly spoken nowadays by the Old Order Amish and Mennonite communities in the United States (Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana) and in Canada (Ontario), it counts about 300,000 speakers.

Pennsylvania German numbering rules

  • Digits and numbers from zero to twelve are specific words: null [0], eens [1], zwee [2], drei [3], vier [4], fimf [5], sex [6], siwwe [7], acht [8], nein [9], zehe [10], elf [11], and zwelf [12].
  • From thirteen to nineteen, the numbers are formed from the matching digits, adding the shortened word for ten (zeh) at the end, with some exceptions: dreizeh [13], vazeh [14] (and not vierzeh), fuffzeh [15] (and not fimfzeh), sechzeh [16], siwwezeh [17], achtzeh [18], and neinzeh [19].
  • The tens are formed by adding the suffix -sich/-zich at the end of the digits, with the exception of ten and twenty: zehe [10], zwansich [20], dreissich [30], vazich [40], fuffzich [50], sechzich [60], siwwezich [70], achtzich [80], and neinzich [90].
  • From twenty-one to ninety-nine, the tens and units are joined with the un (and) word with no space, but in reverse order, as the unit is said before the ten (e.g.: eenundreissich [31], fimfundreissich [35]).
  • The unit eens (one) loses its final -s when composed in a number, unless it is the only value after a scale name (e.g.: en hunnert un eens [101], en dausend eens [1,001]).
  • Hundred (hunnert), thousand (dausend), and million (millyon) are formed by saying the multiplier digit first, then the scale name separated with a space (e.g.: en hunnert [100], zwee hunnert [200], drei dausend [3,000], vier dausend [4,000], fimf millyon [5,000,000]). When the multiplier is one, eens becomes en with only one e (e.g.: en dausend [1,000], en millyon [one million]). When a hundred is directly followed by a unit, the coordinating word un reappears, whereas it is not used with compound numbers (e.g.: en hunnert un siwwe [107], nein hunnert neinunneinzich [999], en dausend nein hunnert neinunsiwwezich [1,979]).

Books

Numbers list

1 – eens
2 – zwee
3 – drei
4 – vier
5 – fimf
6 – sex
7 – siwwe
8 – acht
9 – nein
10 – zehe
11 – elf
12 – zwelf
13 – dreizeh
14 – vazeh
15 – fuffzeh
16 – sechzeh
17 – siwwezeh
18 – achtzeh
19 – neinzeh
20 – zwansich
30 – dreissich
40 – vazich
50 – fuffzich
60 – sechzich
70 – siwwezich
80 – achtzich
90 – neinzich
100 – en hunnert
1,000 – en dausend
one million – en millyon

Other supported languages

Supported languages by families
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