German Numbers 1-100
Today you are going to learn how to count to 100 in German, how to tell time and how to do simple math problems all in German.
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Big German Numbers 1 - 1 Trillion
Numbers 1-12 in German with Example Sentences
eins - one
Ich bin eins. Ich bin ein Jahr alt. -
I am one. I am one year old.
zwei - two
Ich habe zwei Kinder. -
I have two children.
drei - three
Das sind drei Katzen. -
These are three cats.
vier - four
Ich esse jeden Tag vier Äpfel. -
I eat four apples every day.
fünf - five
Das sind fünf Bären. -
These are five bears.
sechs - six
Er hat sechs Karten. -
He has six tickets.
sieben - seven
Wir sind auf Wolke sieben. -
We are on cloud seven.
acht - eight
Es ist acht Uhr. -
It is eight o'clock.
neun - nine
Die Katze hat neun Leben. -
The cat has nine lives.
zehn - ten
Ich kann auf Deutsch bis zehn zählen! -
I can count to ten in German.
elf - eleven
Es gibt elf Elfen in dem Baum. -
There are eleven elves in the tree.
zwölf - twelve
Der Wolf pustet zwölf Mal, aber das Haus bleibt stehen. -
The wolf blows twelve times, but the house is still standing.
The numbers after zwölf (12) follow a pattern.
Up to and including 19, the numbers end with “zehn” and start with the same word as the numbers drei (3) to neun (9). Just be careful with sechzehn (16) and siebzehn (17), as they drop a letter or two to form the new number.
dreizehn - thirteen
Dreizehn ist eine Unglückszahl. -
Thirteen is an unlucky number.
vierzehn - fourteen
Vierzehn Kinder sind zu viel. -
Fourteen children are too many.
fünfzehn - fifteen
Meine Schwester ist fünfzehn Jahre alt. -
My sister is fifteen years old.
sechzehn - sixteen
Ab sechzehn kann man in den USA fahren. -
Starting at sixteen, one can drive in the USA.
siebzehn - seventeen
Siebzehn ist eine Zeitschrift in den USA. -
Seventeen is a magazine in the USA.
achtzehn - eighteen
Ab achtzehn kann man in Deutschland ohne Eltern fahren. -
Starting at eighteen in Germany you can drive without parents.
neunzehn - nineteen
Die Duggars haben neunzehn Kinder. -
The Duggars have nineteen children.
After neunzehn (19) we have a similar pattern.
All of the number up to and including neunundneunzig (99) follow the pattern of ones place + und + tens place.
Obviously, if there is a zero in the ones place, you don’t bother saying it out loud.
If the number eins (1) is in the ones place, you don’t say the “S” at the end of the word “eins” and instead just say “ein” + und + tens place.
Here are the numbers from 21 to 29 as an example.
einundzwanzig - twenty-one
zweiundzwanzig - twenty-two
dreiundzwanzig - twenty-three
vierundzwanzig - twenty-four
fünfundzwanzig - twenty-five
sechsundzwanzig - twenty-six
siebenundzwanzig - twenty-seven
achtundzwanzig - twenty-eight
neunundzwanzig - twenty-nine
Once you have mastered this pattern of number creation, you simply have to learn the words for the tens places.
I’ll count by tens to show you what they are. Things to note about these numbers: dreißig is the only one spelled with an eszett (ß) instead of “Z”. Both sechs and sieben get shortened again, as they did in the teens, to become sechzig (60) and siebzig (70).
zehn - ten
zwanzig - twenty
dreißig - thirty
vierzig - fourty
fünfzig - fifty
sechzig - sixty
siebzig - seventy
achtzig - eighty
neunzig - ninety
Once you get to neunundneunzig (99) in German, you get to “einhundert”, which you can also say as just “hundert”. Then you just put the number after the hundred behind the word “hundert”. If you have more than one hundred, you put the number of hundreds you have in front of the hundred.
einhunderteins - 101
zweihundertdreiundvierzig - 143
achthundertsiebenundachtzig - 887
Just like in English, you can use eleven through the teens to express numbers over one thousand, but anything beyond the teens has to be expressed with the word “tausend”
elfhundertzweiundzwanzig - eleven hundred twenty-two
neunzehnhundertneunundneunzig - nineteen hundred ninety-nine
zweitausendneunzehn - two thousand nineteen
To tell time in German, you can simply put the word “Uhr” between the hours and minutes.
To say a full sentence, you can add “es ist” in front of the time. Keep in mind that 1 o’clock is “ein Uhr” and not “eins Uhr”. Also “eine Uhr” would be “a clock”, which is clearly not what you meant.
Es ist acht Uhr fünfzehn. -
It is eight fifteen. (8:15)
Es ist sechs Uhr sechsunddreißig. -
It is six thirty-six. (6:36)
Es ist zwei Uhr. -
It is two o’clock. (2:00)
Es ist fünf Uhr fünfundfünfzig. -
It is fife fifty-five. (5:55)
Use “nach” to say that the time is a number of minutes after the hour.
You can also include “Minuten” in your sentence, if you like, but it is not necessary. You can also leave out the “Uhr” when you form your sentences like this. If you leave out the word “Uhr” with “ein Uhr” it becomes “eins” instead.
Es ist drei Minuten nach vier. -
It is three minutes after four. (4:03)
Es ist elf Minuten nach ein Uhr. Es ist elf Minuten nach eins. -
It is eleven minutes after one o’clock. (1:11)
Es ist vierundzwanzig nach drei. -
It is twenty-four minutes after three. (3:24)
Use “vor” to say that the time is a number of minutes before the hour.
The same rules as before (with regards to “Minuten” and “Uhr”) still apply.
Es ist fünf vor sechs. -
It is five til six. (5:55)
Es ist zehn Minuten vor zwei. -
It is ten minutes before two. (1:50)
Es ist dreizehn Minuten vor sieben Uhr. -
It is thirteen minutes before seven o’clock. (6:47)
Math in German
In order to read simple math questions in German, you will need some extra vocabulary.
You say “plus” to add things together.
You can use “ist” or “macht” where the equal sign goes.
10 + 21 = 31 - Zehn plus einundzwanzig macht einunddreißig.
24 + 35 = 59 - Vierundzwanzig plus fünfunddreißig ist neunundfünfzig.
To subtract, use “minus”.
99 - 44 = 55 - Neunundneunzig minus vierundvierzig macht fünfundfünfzig.
46 - 12 = 34 - Sechsundvierzig minus zwölf ist vierunddreißig.
To multiply use “mal”.
9 x 9 = 81 - Neun mal neun ist einundachtzig.
8 x 8 = 64 - Acht mal acht macht vierundsechzig.
To divide, use “geteilt durch”.
72 ÷ 9 = 8 - Zweiundsiebzig geteilt durch neun macht acht.
55 ÷ 5 = 11 - Fünfundfünfzig geteilt durch fünf ist elf.
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