Learn How To Say German Numbers (with Audio)

German numbers

We learn to count from zero to a billion in german (and Jens tries to sell Oma's junk)

Hold onto your Bratwürste, you're about to learn...

• German numbers!
• How to count from one to one billion in German
• How to ask someone how old they are, and how to say how old you are
• Vocabulary for the junk that Jens found in Oma's basement

It’s official—Jens is in love. 

He doesn't want his Julia to find out how dead broke he is, so he’s decided to sell some of the junk from Oma's basement to make some extra money.

Before you can help Jens out with this noble task, you’re going to need to know basic German numbers. 

German numbers: 0 - 10

0 Play null 1 Play eins 2 Play zwei 3 Play drei 4 Play vier 5 Play fünf 6 Play sechs 7 Play sieben 8 Play acht 9 Play neun 10 Play zehn

German numbers: 11 - 19

Eleven and twelve are funny, but 13–19 are easy to remember. It’s the base number plus zehn, which means 10. Makes total sense, right?

11 Play elf (yep, just like Santa's helpers) 12 Play zwölf 13 Play dreizehn 14 Play vierzehn 15 Play fünfzehn 16 Play sechzehn 17 Play siebzehn 18 Play achtzehn 19 Play neunzehn

German numbers: Multiples of 10

The numbers 20, 30, 40, etc. also follow a pattern. They all end in –zig, except 30, which ends in -ßig. Still not too difficult, right?

20 Play zwanzig 30 Play dreißig 40 Play vierzig 50 Play fünfzig 60 Play sechzig 70 Play siebzig 80 Play achtzig 90 Play neunzig

Where it gets strange: 21, 22 etc

And now this is where the German language starts to mess with your brain.

If you are an English speaker, you are probably used to saying “twenty one.” However, in German, they switch the order and say “one and twenty.” They also run all of it together as one giant word. 

Luckily it's not hard to get the hang of. Here are some examples:

21 ein + und + zwanzigone + and + twenty Play einundzwanzig 22 zwei + und + zwanzigtwo + and + twenty Play zweiundzwanzig 23 drei + und + zwanzigthree + and + twenty Play dreiundzwanzig 33 drei + und + dreißigthree + and + thirty Play dreiunddreißig 57 sieben + und + fünfzigseven + and + fifty Play siebenundfünfzig 84 vier + und + achtzigfour + and + eighty Play vierundachtzig

Back to easy: The hundreds

After that, it gets easier again because it’s a lot like English.

100 Play hundert 200 Play zweihundert 300 Play dreihundert 400 Play vierhundert 500 Play fünfhundert 600 Play sechshundert 700 Play siebenhundert 800 Play achthundert 900 Play neunhundert

And the thousands follow the same pattern.

1000 Play tausend 2000 Play zweitausend 3000 Play dreitausend

Stringing them together

As the numbers keep getting more complex, German speakers just keep stringing them together to make longer and longer words, until eventually our fingers go numb from writing.

202 Play zweihundertzwei 3627 Play dreitausendsechshundert siebenundzwanzig

(Note: I've put a space in that number so that it'll fit on your screen!)

There's a bit of an exception when you're talking about years. Instead of saying something like "one thousand, eight hundred" for 1800, you say "eighteen hundred".

1864 Play achtzehnhundertvierundsechzig(literally eighteen-hundred four and sixty)

Numbers 10,000 — 1,000,000,000

Oh yes, and in case you are planning to go to Germany to make some serious cash, you should probably know these numbers:

10,000 Play zehntausand 20,000 Play zwanzigtausend 100,000 Play hunderttausend one million Play eine Million two million Play zwei Millionen one billion Play eine Milliarde

Jens sells his (and Oma's) stuff

Now that you know the numbers, it's time to see what Jens has found to sell.

Here's a list of the sellable items Jens found in Oma's basement. See if you can guess what the item is, and how many of them Jens found. Then click to see if you got it right.

Play zwei Schreibmaschinen Click for the translation 2 typewriters Play drei Fahrräder Click for the translation 3 bikes Play sieben Kochbücher Click for the translation 7 cookbooks Play neun Weinflaschen Click for the translation 9 bottles of wine Play elf Hemden Click for the translation 11 shirts Play siebzehn Fußbälle Click for the translation 17 soccer balls Play achtunddreißig Tassen Click for the translation 38 cups Play vierundsechzig Knöpfe Click for the translation 64 buttons Play einhundertdreiundzwanzig Schallplatten Click for the translation 123 vinyl records Play dreihundertdrei Münzen Click for the translation 303 coins

That should help Jens pay for at least another couple of dates at McDonalds with Julia, don't you think?

How to say your age

Finally, let’s give you a very practical reason to learn numbers…. Quick! How old are you?

Play Wie alt bist du? How old are you? Play Ich bin vierundzwanzig Jahre alt. I'm 24 years old.

Your turn! Wie alt bist du?

Ich bin ______________ Jahre alt.

Oh my! You're practically a grown-up! :)

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