(after reading, start with our Exercise 1 >> or Exercise 2 >>)

German numbers are formed a little differently than numbers in English and other foreign languages that you may know. The biggest difference is that the right-most digit (unit's digit) of a number is written before the digit that precedes it (decimal digit). For 21 we say "einundzwanzig" and not "zwanzig und eins". Another difference is the notation: German numbers up to one million are written in one word. That means that the corresponding words may get too long to be written and it is more common to write them as digits.

In the following list you will find a few basic rules:
- The unit's digit is written before the decimal digit ("einundachtzig" and not "achtzig und eins")
- Numbers bigger than 20: the unit's digit is written first followed by an "und" (=and), then followed by the decimal digit (i.e. 41 = einundvierzig)
- When writing numbers from 13 to 19 the "und" is dropped (i.e. vierzehn, siebzehn)
- 11 and 12 are special: "elf" and "zwölf"
- When writing 16, 17, 60 and 70 ("sechzehn", "siebzehn", "sechzig", "siebzig") we write "sech-" instead of "sechs-" and "sieb-" instead of "sieben-"
- Pay attention to the exception 30: "dreißig" and not "dreizig"
- 100, 1000: We say "einhundert" or "eintausend" and not "einshundert" or "einstausend" (without the s!)

The numbers 0 to 20 build the basis for all German numbers:

Continue now with Exercise 1 >> or Exercise 2 >>