How to count in German: Numbers from 1 to 100 (and why they're backwards)

Look, if you're trying to learn German and you just heard someone say "vierundzwanzig," you probably did a double-take. That's "four-and-twenty" — not "twenty-four." German numbers literally go backwards from English numbers. Wild, right?

Here's the thing: learning German numbers isn't actually hard. The German language has clear patterns, and once you memorize the basics and get past the weirdness of saying "three-and-twenty" instead of "twenty-three," you'll be able to count from 1 to 100 pretty quickly. Way faster than you'd learn German grammar, that's for damn sure.

Let's break down what you actually need to know to count in German.

German numbers 1 to 10: Your foundation

These are your building blocks. Every larger number in the German language uses these, so you need to memorize them first.

German numbers from 0 to 10:

Numbers 1-10 are an essential part of learning German — there's no way around it. The good news? Some German numbers sound close to the English equivalents, like drei (three) and neun (nine).

How to pronounce German numbers 1 to 10

German pronunciation trips up a lot of English speakers. Here are the key pronunciation tips:

The letter "z" makes a "ts" sound, so zwei is pronounced "tsvai." The letter "v" makes an "f" sound, so vier is pronounced "feer." Mix these up and native German speakers will have no idea what number you're trying to say.

Also, people often pronounce zwei as "zwo" when speaking, especially on the phone. Why? Because zwei and drei sound too similar, and nobody wants to screw up when they're giving out phone numbers or prices.

Numbers 11 to 20: The teens

Just like in English, German numbers from 11 to 20 don't follow the pattern you'll see in larger numbers. You've got two rebels — elf (11) and zwölf (12) — that do their own thing.

Then numbers 13-19 follow a simple formula: the base digit + zehn (the German word for ten).

But watch out: numbers 13 to 19 have some quirks. The number 16 is sechzehn (not sechszehn) and 17 is siebzehn (not siebenzehn). They drop letters for smoother pronunciation. Germans don't like tongue twisters, apparently.

Numbers 20 to 99: Where German numbers get backwards

This is where German numbers flip the script. German multiples of 10 are straightforward, but compound numbers between 20 and 99 work differently than English numbers.

Instead of "twenty-four," you use German like this: "four-and-twenty" — vierundzwanzig.

The formula for numbers 20 to 99: ones digit + und + tens

So 27 = siebenundzwanzig (literally "seven-and-twenty")

German multiples of 10

The tens are easy enough once you learn how to say them:

Notice how German numbers follow a pattern? They all end in -zig except dreißig. Yeah, the German language loves its little exceptions. Also, sechzig and siebzig drop letters again — Germans really hate extra syllables.

Once you've got the tens memorized, you can make any German number from 21-99. Just remember: ones first, then "und," then the ten. The biggest mistake English speakers make when learning German numbers is saying "zwanzigundvier" (twenty-and-four) instead of "vierundzwanzig." Don't do that.

This reversed formula is how German numbers are formed for everything from 21 to 99. Once you know the basic pattern, you'll be able to count in German up to 100 without looking anything up.

Hundreds and thousands in German

Hundreds follow the same basic pattern you'd expect. German numbers 100 and above just keep building on what you already know:

For numbers like 147, you just string it together: einhundertsiebenundvierzig (one-hundred-seven-and-forty). Yes, it's one long-ass word. These compound numbers can look intimidating, but they follow the pattern once you know it.

Thousands work the same way:

Big numbers:

Be careful with Milliarde and Billion — they don't mean what you think they mean if you're coming from English. This is one of those things you just need to memorize.

Cardinal numbers vs. ordinal numbers in German

So far we've been talking about cardinal numbers — the regular counting numbers (eins, zwei, drei). But when you need to talk about dates, rankings, or floors in a building, you need ordinal numbers.

How ordinal numbers in German are formed

The pattern for ordinal numbers:

But of course, there are three irregular ordinal numbers:

The second ordinal number (zweite) follows the regular pattern, at least.

Germans write the ordinal number with a period after the digit: 1. = erste, 2. = zweite, 3. = dritte.

When you use the ordinal number in German

You'll see ordinal numbers everywhere when you speak German:

Like most things in the German language, ordinal numbers change their endings based on whether you're using the nominative, dative, or accusative case. But that's a whole other German lesson.

Telling time in German

Germans use the 24-hour clock for everything official — train schedules, event times, TV listings. No AM/PM confusion.

Basic format: Es ist hour Uhr minutes

In conversational German, people use "nach" (after) and "vor" (before):

The tricky one? "Halb." When Germans say "halb drei," they mean 2:30 — literally "half to three," not "half past two." This trips up every English speaker at some point, so just remember: "halb" refers to the next hour.

And be on time. Seriously. Germans take punctuality way more seriously than Americans or Brits. If someone says "halb drei," show up at 2:30, not 2:40. Being late is genuinely considered disrespectful.

The decimal comma thing

Here's something that'll mess you up when you're shopping in Germany: they use commas and periods opposite from English.

The comma is the decimal separator, and the period separates thousands. So when you see €29,99 in a store, that's 29 euros and 99 cents, not twenty-nine thousand euros.

Phone numbers get said in pairs, too: 23 86 50 becomes "dreiundzwanzig sechsundachtzig fünfzig" — not individual digits like in English.

Ways to say German numbers naturally

Here are different ways to say numbers that you'll hear when you practice your German:

For the number 2: You can say zwei or zwo (especially on the phone to avoid confusion with drei)

For 100: Both hundert and einhundert are correct

For prices: Germans drop the word for "cents" — "zwei Euro fünfzig" means €2.50

The more familiar with the German accent you become, the easier these variations are to catch.

How to actually learn how to count in German

Textbook drills suck for learning the numbers. You know what works? Using them in real situations.

Count stuff around your apartment in German. Read prices out loud when you're shopping online. When you see the time, learn how to say it in German. If you're watching German content, pay attention to how people actually use German numbers in context.

Learning German numbers gets way easier when you hear them used naturally — in German shows, podcasts, YouTube videos. The more you expose yourself to numbers like these in real German language content, the faster they'll stick.

If you want help you learn more German vocab alongside numbers 1 to 100, check out our posts on German swear words and German slang — way more fun than memorizing tables, and you'll actually sound like a real person instead of a textbook.

Our spaced repetition approach works great for this kind of thing, too. Numbers are one of those topics where you just need exposure and practice until you're able to count without thinking about it.

Anyway, if you want to learn German numbers the way they're actually used — not from vocabulary lists, but from real German content — that's where Migaku comes in. Our browser extension lets you watch German shows, read German articles, or browse German websites while looking up any word instantly. German numbers come up constantly in real content, so you'll see them in context: prices in cooking shows, times in news broadcasts, dates in vlogs.

The extension creates flashcards automatically using spaced repetition, so you're reviewing the exact numbers and phrases you encountered in actual German language content. Way more effective than drilling "eins, zwei, drei" in isolation. Plus, you can use Migaku on Netflix, YouTube, wherever you're already consuming German media.

There's a 10-day free trial if you want to try it out. No credit card needed.