German Numbers 1-100: Full Chart & Pronunciation

Numbers are the first real skill test in German, and the first place learners get stuck — not because the words are hard, but because German counts differently the moment you pass twenty. Einundzwanzig doesn't mean "twenty-one," it means "one-and-twenty," and that single reversal governs every number up to 100. Once you see the pattern, counting in German stops being memorization and becomes a formula you can apply to any number you hear.

German Numbers at a Glance: The One Rule That Explains Everything

Before the full charts, here's the entire system in one table. Every German number from 0 to 100 falls into one of five patterns:

Range	Pattern	Example
0-12	Unique words, no pattern — just memorize them	sieben (7)
13-19	[number] + "-zehn"	siebzehn (17)
20, 30, 40...90	[number] + "-zig" (dreißig is the one irregular tens word)	siebzig (70)
21-99	[ones] + "und" + [tens] — reversed order	siebenundzwanzig (27)
100	hundert (or einhundert)	hundert (100)

Everything below unpacks each row with pronunciation, then shows you where these numbers actually show up — prices, clocks, phone numbers — because that's where charts stop helping and listening has to start.

German Numbers 0-12: The Ones You Just Have to Memorize

There's no shortcut here. Zero through twelve are the foundation everything else is built from, so get comfortable with these before moving on.

#	German	Pronunciation
0	null	nool
1	eins	eyns
2	zwei	tsvy
3	drei	dry
4	vier	feer
5	fünf	fewnf
6	sechs	zeks
7	sieben	ZEE-ben
8	acht	ahkt
9	neun	noyn
10	zehn	tsayn
11	elf	elf
12	zwölf	tsvurlf

One wrinkle: eins shortens to ein the moment another word follows it — "ein Bier" (one beer), "einundzwanzig" (twenty-one). Counting on your fingers, it's always eins. Ordering at a bar, it's ein.

13-19: The "-zehn" Pattern

Thirteen through nineteen are the easiest range in the whole system: take the base number and add -zehn (a shortened form of zehn, "ten"). Two numbers clip their base word slightly — worth flagging now because it matters for pronunciation later.

#	German	Pronunciation
13	dreizehn	DRY-tsayn
14	vierzehn	FEER-tsayn
15	fünfzehn	FEWNF-tsayn
16	sechzehn	ZEHK-tsayn
17	siebzehn	ZEEP-tsayn
18	achtzehn	AHKT-tsayn
19	neunzehn	NOYN-tsayn

Notice sechzehn (16) drops the "s" from sechs, and siebzehn (17) drops the "en" from sieben. Both are irregular contractions you just have to know — say "sechszehn" or "siebenzehn" and a German speaker will still understand you, but it'll sound distinctly non-native.

Why Are German Numbers "Backwards"? Einundzwanzig Explained

This is the rule that makes or breaks German numbers for most learners. From 21 to 99, German states the ones digit first, then "und" ("and"), then the tens digit: [ones] + und + [tens].

It's worth knowing this isn't a quirk German invented — it's a pattern English used to share. "Four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie" is the same construction as vierundzwanzig. English gradually dropped it in favor of "twenty-four" — a shift a 2014 study in Language Variation and Change (Berg & Neubauer) traces over roughly seven centuries, from Old English through the early modern period. German never made that switch, and neither did Dutch, which still counts the same way today (eenentwintig, "one-and-twenty," for 21).

The Tens and the Full 21-100 Pattern

The round tens are their own words, mostly built from [number] + -zig. There's one exception: 30 is dreißig, not "dreizig" — an irregular spelling and sound that's just memorized.

#	German	Pronunciation
20	zwanzig	TSVAN-tsikh
30	dreißig	DRY-sikh
40	vierzig	FEER-tsikh
50	fünfzig	FEWNF-tsikh
60	sechzig	ZEHK-tsikh
70	siebzig	ZEEP-tsikh
80	achtzig	AHKT-tsikh
90	neunzig	NOYN-tsikh
100	hundert	HOON-dert

Now the full pattern applied to one decade, so you can see the formula run end to end:

#	German
21	einundzwanzig
22	zweiundzwanzig
23	dreiundzwanzig
24	vierundzwanzig
25	fünfundzwanzig
26	sechsundzwanzig
27	siebenundzwanzig
28	achtundzwanzig
29	neunundzwanzig
30	dreißig

Every other decade works exactly the same way — just swap the tens word. 31 is einunddreißig, 45 is fünfundvierzig, 68 is achtundsechzig, 74 is vierundsiebzig, 99 is neunundneunzig. Learn the nine ones-prefixes (ein, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun) and the nine tens words above, and you can build any number from 21 to 99 without ever memorizing it as a separate word. Above 100, the same logic just continues: 101 is hunderteins, 121 is hunderteinundzwanzig, 200 is zweihundert.

Pronunciation Gotchas: Z, W, CH, and Umlauts

German spelling is more consistent than English, but a handful of letters do something a native English speaker won't expect. These four show up constantly in numbers specifically.

Letter	Sounds like	In numbers
z	Always "ts," never a buzzing English z	zehn (10) = "tsayn," zwanzig (20) = "TSVAN-tsikh"
w	An English v sound	zwei (2) = "tsvy" — the w reads as v
v	An English f sound (the reverse of w)	vier (4) = "feer," vierzehn (14) = "FEER-tsayn"
ch (after a, o, u)	A throaty rasp, like clearing your throat softly	acht (8) = "ahkt" (the ch is softened, not a hard k)
ch (after e, i)	A softer, hissier sound near the front of the mouth	sechzehn / sechzig — the "ch" is lighter than in acht
ß	A sharp "s"	dreißig (30) = "DRY-sikh," not "DRY-tsikh"
ü	No true English equivalent — round your lips as if saying "oo," then say "ee"	fünf (5), fünfzehn (15), fünfzig (50)

The ü in fünf trips up almost everyone at first, and it's genuinely hard to self-correct from a written guide — you're aiming for a sound English doesn't make. This is exactly the kind of thing worth running through our pronunciation analysis tool, which listens to your specific attempt and tells you how close you are, rather than you guessing from an approximation on a page.

Numbers in Real Life: Prices, Times, Phone Numbers, and Dates

Charts teach you the words. Real conversations throw numbers at you fast, embedded in context, with no time to translate. Here's where they actually show up.

Prices

German writes decimals with a comma, not a period (19,99 €), but spoken prices skip the word "Komma" entirely for currency: 19,99 € is "neunzehn Euro neunundneunzig" (nineteen euros, ninety-nine) — the cents are just read as their own two-digit number after "Euro."

Time

This is the single biggest number-related trap for beginners. Formal and written German (train schedules, TV listings, official appointments) uses the 24-hour clock: 20 Uhr is 8 p.m. Casual spoken German uses a 12-hour system with a construction that reverses English intuition — halb ("half") counts toward the next hour, not from the last one.

Halb sieben means 6:30 ("half toward seven"), not 7:30. Get this backwards and you'll show up an hour off.

Phone numbers

Numbers are read digit by digit, but many German speakers substitute zwo for zwei when reading phone numbers, addresses, or codes aloud — zwei and drei sound similar over a phone line, so zwo removes the ambiguity. It's a register choice, not a different word: you'll hear it in dictated numbers and rarely anywhere else.

Dates

Ordinals (1st, 2nd, 3rd) are built from the cardinal numbers you just learned, plus a suffix: -te for 1-19 (with erste, dritte, and siebte as small irregulars) and -ste for 20 and up. "July 20th" is der zwanzigste Juli. If you can already build zwanzig, the ordinal is one suffix away.

The #1 Number Mistake: Confusing -zehn and -zig

Even learners who've memorized every chart above routinely mishear fünfzehn (15) for fünfzig (50), or sechzehn (16) for sechzig (60). The words are one syllable apart on paper, and at natural conversational speed — especially over a phone, a train announcement, or a noisy café — that syllable is easy to miss entirely.

This is the honest limit of any static chart, including this one: reading the difference between -zehn and -zig doesn't train your ear to catch it inside a fast sentence. That only comes from hearing the pair spoken at real speed, repeatedly, until the distinction becomes automatic rather than something you're actively parsing.

How to Drill German Numbers by Ear, Not by Chart

This is the gap every phrasebook and number chart shares: they test whether you can read the words, not whether you can catch them spoken quickly and respond correctly. A price rattled off by a cashier, a departure time over a station announcement, an appointment time on the phone — none of that gives you a moment to sound out "s-i-e-b-z-e-h-n" in your head.

I built LinguaLive because I ran into this exact wall learning a second language as an adult — I could read the numbers fine and still froze the first time someone actually asked me the time in German. The AI German tutor runs live voice conversations where a tutor asks you real prices, times, and phone numbers out loud and listens to your spoken answer — the same skill a chart can't test, because a chart doesn't talk back. It also won't pretend a number drill replaces immersion or a human tutor for deep grammar work; it's built specifically for the reps a chart can't give you: real-time listening and speaking under time pressure.

If numbers are your current sticking point, start there specifically rather than a general lesson — ask the tutor to drill just prices and times for ten minutes and see how fast einundzwanzig stops needing translation. The German learning hub has the full course structure if you want numbers as one part of a bigger plan.

Practice Counting and Comprehension Out Loud

The test that actually matters isn't "can you read this chart back" — it's "can you understand a number the first time you hear it, at native speed, with no do-over." That's a listening-and-speaking skill, not a reading one, and it's exactly why reading a phrase is not the same as being able to say it — the gap between recognizing einundzwanzig on a page and catching it in a fast sentence is real, and it only closes with spoken practice.

If pronunciation is the piece that's still shaky, our guide on how to improve pronunciation in a foreign language covers the listen-repeat-verify feedback loop that closes gaps like the German ü and ch sounds covered above.

FAQs

How do you count to 10 in German?

Eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn — one through ten. Approximate pronunciation: eyns, tsvy, dry, feer, fewnf, zeks, ZEE-ben, ahkt, noyn, tsayn. The two hardest sounds are the German z (always a hard "ts," never a buzzing English z) and the ü in fünf, which has no real English equivalent.

Why are German numbers backwards?

From 21 to 99, German says the ones digit before the tens: einundzwanzig literally means "one-and-twenty." It's not random — English used the same order for centuries (think "four-and-twenty blackbirds"). According to a 2014 study in the journal Language Variation and Change (Berg & Neubauer), English's shift to today's "twenty-one" order took roughly seven centuries, starting in Old English and settling by the early modern period. German simply never made that switch.

How do you say 21 in German?

21 is einundzwanzig (EYN-oont-TSVAN-tsikh): ein ("one") + und ("and") + zwanzig ("twenty"). This exact pattern repeats for every number from 21 to 99 — 32 is zweiunddreißig, 45 is fünfundvierzig. Note it's "ein," not "eins," when another number follows it.

How do you pronounce zwanzig?

Zwanzig (20) is pronounced TSVAN-tsikh. The z is a hard "ts," the w sounds like an English v, and the final -ig softens to "ikh" rather than a hard g. Put together: "tsvahn" + "tsikh," with stress on the first syllable.

What is the rule for German numbers over 20?

From 21-99, German always puts the ones digit first, then "und" (and), then the tens: [ones]-und-[tens]. So 47 is siebenundvierzig (seven-and-forty) and 83 is dreiundachtzig (three-and-eighty). The round tens themselves (20, 30, 40... 90) and 100 are standalone words that don't follow this pattern.

How do you say 100 in German?

100 is hundert, pronounced HOON-dert (or einhundert, "one hundred," in more formal or precise contexts). 101 is hunderteins, and 121 is hunderteinundzwanzig — the same ones-and-tens rule just continues, with hundert attached at the front. The pattern keeps working past 100 too: 200 is zweihundert, 300 is dreihundert, and so on through every round hundred.

Numbers are small words with a real learning curve attached — not because they're individually hard, but because understanding one correctly, out loud, at conversation speed, is a different skill from reading it off a page. LinguaLive's free tier gives you 10 live voice minutes a day, which is enough to run a focused numbers drill and see how fast the reversal rule stops needing translation. Start with the charts above, then go test yourself against a voice that actually talks back.