German Numbers

In German numbers from 1 to 19 are unique and therefore need to be memorized individually.

To count upwards from twenty in tens, you use the number words for "three" to "nine" as a stem (with the exceptions being zwanzig (twenty), sechzig (sixty) and siebzig (seventy) which change the stem) and add either ßig or zig. This gives you 20 = “zwanzig”, 30 = “dreißig”, 40 = “vierzig”, 50 = “fünfzig”, 60 = “sechzig”, 70 = “siebzig”, 80 = “achtzig”, 90 = “neunzig".

Two-digit numbers are then formed by using the following pattern: for example 21 can be formed by using 1 + 20 while connecting the words und putting “und” (“and”) between them. Notice that the words for two-digit numbers are spoken in reversed order from the digits – that is, when you speak, you say the written numbers backwards! Thus, 21 becomes einundzwanzig, 22 = zweiundzwanzig, 23 = dreiundzwanzig, 24 = vierundzwanzig etc.

To continue upwards from one hundred in three-digit numbers and higher, you simply put the number words for the hundreds, thousands, millions etc. in front, as in English. This gives you (parts in brackets may be omitted) 101 = (ein)hundert(und)eins, 102 = (ein)hundert(und)zwei 201 = zweihundert(und)eins, 202 = zweihundert(und)zwei etc.; for the thousands 1001 = (ein)tausend(und)eins, 1002 = (ein)tausend(und)zwei etc., 2001 = zweitausend(und)eins, 2002 = zweitausend(und)zwei etc. From one million (“Million”) upwards, the number expression is split into multiple words, eg eine Million und eins, eine Million und zwei etc.