Numbers and dates
Numbers and dates are important in all languages. There are many similarities in the formation and usage of numbers in English and German, but ordinal numbers in German (‘first’, ‘second’ etc.) need endings like any other adjective.
Numbers
| 0 | null | 6 | sechs |
| 1 | eins | 7 | sieben |
| 2 | zwei | 8 | acht |
| 3 | drei | 9 | neun |
| 4 | vier | 10 | zehn |
| 5 | fünf | 11 | elf |
| 12 | zwölf | 17 | siebzehn |
| 13 | dreizehn | 18 | achtzehn |
| 14 | vierzehn | 19 | neunzehn |
| 15 | fünfzehn | 20 | zwanzig |
| 16 | sechzehn |
Similarly to English, in German zehn ‘ten’ is added to form the numbers 13 to 19. Note that the s is dropped in sechzehn and siebzehn drops the en.
The tens
20 zwanzig 60 sechzig
30 dreißig 70 siebzig
40 vierzig 80 achtzig
50 fünfzig 90 neunzig
Note that dreißig is spelled with ß instead of z. Again the s is dropped in sechzig and the en in siebzig.
Numbers over 20
Numbers over 20 are formed by giving the unit number, then und and then the tens. This is different from English, where you first have the tens and then the single number: twenty-one. In German, it is (literally translated): one-and-twenty.
21 einundzwanzig
32 zweiunddreißig
44 vierundvierzig
56 sechsundfünzig etc.
Eins drops the s for numbers above 20 (einunddreißig, einundvierzig, etc.).
Numbers 100 and above
Start with the number of hundreds and then add the tens and units as explained above:
100 (ein)hundert
202 zweihundertzwei
310 dreihundertzehn
456 vierhundertsechsundfünfzig
889 achthundertneunundachtzig
In modern German there is normally no und added after hundert. This also applies to numbers above 1000:
1020 (ein)tausendzwanzig
7455 siebentausendvierhundertfünfundfünfzig
450 000 vierhundertfünfzigtausend
Dates – ordinal numbers
To say the dates in German (‘the first’, ‘the second’ etc.), add:
• -te for numbers up to 19 and
• -ste for numbers from 20 upwards.
These numbers (‘first’, ‘second’ etc.) are called ordinal numbers. Because ordinal numbers usually provide more information about a noun (‘the first of February’, for instance), they take the appropriate adjective ending.
This means that if an ordinal number is preceded by a preposition taking the dative case, it takes the dative ending, adding -n:
am vierzehnten Mai on the fourteenth of May
am dreißigsten April on the thirtieth of April
Ordinal numbers from ‘first’ to ‘nineteenth’
For numbers up to and including the nineteenth add -te:
erste
zweite
dritte
vierte
fünfte
sechste
siebte
achte
zehnte
zwölfte
vierzehnte.
Note the slightly irregular forms: der erste (‘the first’), der dritte (‘the third’) and der siebte (‘the seventh’).
From ‘twentieth’ upwards
For all numbers from the twentieth upwards add -ste:
einundzwanzigste
einunddreißigste
Heute ist der fünfundzwanzigste Mai. Today is the twenty-fifth of May.
Ordinal numbers with dative endings
To indicate on which date something happens, use am in German.
As am (an + dem) is followed by the dative case, an extra -n needs to be added to the -te and -ste endings:
Ich fahre am ersten Juli nach On the first of July, I’m going to Hamburg. Hamburg.
Am fünfzehnten Mai beginnt mein My holidays start on the fifteenth Urlaub. of May.
Habt ihr am dreißigsten Zeit? Are you free on the thirtieth (of this month)?
Years in German
When referring to years, German does not use the preposition ‘in’ as in English:
Die Berliner Mauer fiel 1989. The Berlin Wall came down in 1989.
(= neunzehnhundertneunundachtzig)
Goethe wurde 1749 geboren. Goethe was born in 1749.
(= siebzehnhundertneunundvierzig)
