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Lesson 1: Meet Jens — Your German language tour guide
Introductions, personal pronouns, formal vs informal address, and the important verb "to be"
Lesson 2: You already speak German! (kind of...)
English/German similarities, cognates, false friends, and the rise of "Denglisch"
Lesson 3: Attack of the German sounds and symbols!
How to pronounce German words: How to say those Ä, Ö, Ü symbols and that weird ß thing
Lesson 4: Introduction to German nouns (and nieces)
German nouns, noun genders, plural nouns, and all the different ways to say "the"
Lesson 5: German greetings and essentials
Greetings, yes and no, please and thank you: The bare minimum you need to survive!
Lesson 6: Introduction to German verbs
The structure of regular verbs, and the important verb "to have"
Lesson 7: Commands
How to give polite and informal commands
Lesson 8: Questions words
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? How much? How many? How to form basic questions in German
Lesson 9: Smalltalk! Talking about yourself in German
How to say "my name is…", where you come from, and talk about things you like
Lesson 10: How to compare things
How to compare things in German (i.e., better, best) using comparatives and superlatives.
Lesson 11: Ordering in a restaurant
How to order food in a restaurant by saying "I would like..."
Lesson 12: Introduction to German cases
What "cases" are, why you need them, and how to use the nominative and accusative cases.
Lesson 13: The "lazy dative" case
What the "dative" is, when to use it, and why it's the laziest of all the cases.
Lesson 14: German numbers
How to count from zero to one billion in German
lesson 15: Slang and expressions
Some common slang and expressions to make your German sound more natural

German numbers

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

Jens with a bicycle with a price tag on it

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 + zwanzig
one + and + twenty
Play
einundzwanzig
22
zwei + und + zwanzig
two + and + twenty
Play
zweiundzwanzig
23
drei + und + zwanzig
three + and + twenty
Play
dreiundzwanzig
33
drei + und + dreißig
three + and + thirty
Play
dreiunddreißig
57
sieben + und + fünfzig
seven + and + fifty
Play
siebenundfünfzig
84
vier + und + achtzig
four + 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.

A typewriter
Play
zwei Schreibmaschinen
Click for the translation
2 typewriters
A bike
Play
drei Fahrräder
Click for the translation
3 bikes
A cookbook
Play
sieben Kochbücher
Click for the translation
7 cookbooks
A bottle of wine
Play
neun Weinflaschen
Click for the translation
9 bottles of wine
A shirt
Play
elf Hemden
Click for the translation
11 shirts
A soccer ball
Play
siebzehn Fußbälle
Click for the translation
17 soccer balls
A mug with a heart on it
Play
achtunddreißig Tassen
Click for the translation
38 cups
Three shirt buttons
Play
vierundsechzig Knöpfe
Click for the translation
64 buttons
A vinyl record
Play
einhundertdreiundzwanzig Schallplatten
Click for the translation
123 vinyl records
Three coins
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! :)

Previous lesson
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Free German Lessons

Lesson 1: Meet Jens — Your German language tour guide
Introductions, personal pronouns, formal vs informal address, and the important verb "to be"
Lesson 2: You already speak German! (Kind of...)
English/German similarities, cognates, false friends, and the rise of “Denglisch"
Lesson 3: Attack of the German sounds and symbols!
How to pronounce German words: How to say those Ä, Ö, Ü symbols and that weird ß thing
Lesson 4: Introduction to German nouns (and nieces)
German nouns, noun genders, plural nouns, and all the different ways to say "the"
Lesson 5: German greetings and essentials
Greetings, yes and no, please and thank you: The bare minimum you need to survive!
Lesson 6: Introduction to German verbs
The structure of regular verbs, and the important verb "to have"
Lesson 7: Commands
How to give polite and informal commands
Lesson 8: Questions
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? How much? How many? How to form basic questions in German
Lesson 9: Smalltalk! Talking about yourself in German
How to say "my name is…", where you come from, and talk about things you like
Lesson 10: How to compare things
How to compare things in German (i.e., better, best) using comparatives and superlatives
Lesson 11: Ordering in a restaurant
How to order food in a restaurant by saying "I would like..."
Lesson 12: Introduction to German cases
What "cases" are, why you need them, and how to use the nominative and accusative cases
Lesson 14: German numbers
How to count from zero to one billion in German
Lesson 13: The "lazy dative" case
What the "dative" is, when to use it, and why it's the laziest of all the cases
Lesson 15: How to sound cool
Some common slang and expressions to make your German sound more natural

German Children's Stories

Henry Hühnchen
Henry Chicken (Chicken Little)
Herr Vogel und Frau Wal
Mr Bird and Ms Whale
Die Drei Kleinen Schweinchen
The Three Little Pigs
Goldlöckchen und die Drei Bären
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Rotkäppchen
Little Red Riding Hood

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