German Numbers 0–20
After this lesson you can count to twenty and give your phone number.
Übungen
Eight exercises on what you just watched. Get 80% and the lesson is marked done and added to your A1 progress.
1 / 8 · Type the missing word
2 / 8 · Type the missing word
3 / 8 · Word order
Put the words in the right order.
I am twenty years old.
4 / 8 · Word order
Put the words in the right order.
There are four of us.
5 / 8 · Choose
How do you say 3 in German?
6 / 8 · Choose
How do you say 7?
7 / 8 · Choose
How do you say 11?
8 / 8 · Choose
How do you say 12?
In short
German counts null, eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn. Eleven and twelve (elf, zwölf) are irregular and must be memorised; from thirteen on, the teens are simply the digit plus -zehn — dreizehn, vierzehn, fünfzehn.
How it works
German numbers up to twenty come in three blocks, and only one of them has to be learned by brute force. Zero to ten are your building blocks: null, eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn. Learn these first — everything above them is built out of these words.
Eleven and twelve break the pattern. Elf and zwölf look nothing like eins and zwei, and there is no trick: memorise them the way English speakers memorise "eleven" and "twelve", which are equally odd.
From thirteen upward the pattern is completely regular and runs the opposite way round from English. Take the digit, add -zehn: drei + zehn = dreizehn, vier + zehn = vierzehn, fünf + zehn = fünfzehn. Two of them shorten slightly when spoken — sechzehn drops the s of sechs, and siebzehn drops the -en of sieben — but the logic never changes. Twenty is zwanzig, which starts a new pattern covered in lesson 3.
| Number | German | Sounds roughly like |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | null | nool |
| 1 | eins | eyenss |
| 2 | zwei | tsvy |
| 3 | drei | dry |
| 4 | vier | feer |
| 5 | fünf | fuenf |
| 6 | sechs | zeks |
| 7 | sieben | zee-ben |
| 8 | acht | akht |
| 9 | neun | noyn |
| 10 | zehn | tseyn |
| Number | German | Built from |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | elf | irregular — memorise |
| 12 | zwölf | irregular — memorise |
| 13 | dreizehn | drei + zehn |
| 14 | vierzehn | vier + zehn |
| 15 | fünfzehn | fünf + zehn |
| 16 | sechzehn | sechs + zehn — the s drops |
| 17 | siebzehn | sieben + zehn — the -en drops |
| 18 | achtzehn | acht + zehn |
| 19 | neunzehn | neun + zehn |
| 20 | zwanzig | new pattern — see lesson 3 |
Examples
- Ich bin zwanzig Jahre alt.I am twenty years old.
- Wir sind zu viert.There are four of us.
- Das kostet acht Euro.That costs eight euros.
- Ich wohne in Nummer sieben.I live at number seven.
- Der Bus kommt in fünf Minuten.The bus is coming in five minutes.
- Ein Kilo, bitte.One kilo, please.
- Sie hat drei Kinder.She has three children.
- Zimmer Nummer zwölf.Room number twelve.
- Ich brauche zwei Tickets.I need two tickets.
- Es ist neunzehn Grad.It is nineteen degrees.
Mistakes to avoid
✗ sechszehn
✓ sechzehn
The s of sechs disappears in sechzehn. Write it as you say it — there is no s in the middle.
✗ siebenzehn
✓ siebzehn
Sieben loses its -en before -zehn. Same shortening happens again in siebzig (seventy).
✗ Ich bin ein Jahr… as “eins”
✓ Ich bin ein Jahr alt.
Counting out loud, one is eins. In front of a noun it becomes ein or eine — ein Kilo, eine Minute.
✗ zwei on the phone
✓ zwo on the phone
Germans often say zwo instead of zwei when reading numbers aloud, because zwei and drei sound alike on a bad line. You will hear it constantly in phone numbers.
Wortschatz
The words from this lesson.
| die Zahl | number (the figure) | |
| die Nummer | number (of a room, phone, house) | |
| zählen | to count | |
| das Jahr | year | plural: die Jahre |
| die Minute | minute | |
| der Euro | euro | |
| kosten | to cost | |
| brauchen | to need | |
| wie viele? | how many? | |
| wie alt? | how old? |
Kulturnotiz
Germans count on their fingers starting with the thumb — thumb is one, thumb-plus-index is two. Hold up an index finger alone to order "one beer" and you may well get two, because the bartender reads it as the second finger. In a loud Kneipe, use your thumb.
Common questions
+Why is sixteen sechzehn and not sechszehn?
The s of sechs is dropped for ease of pronunciation — sechszehn would put three consonants together. The same shortening produces sechzig for sixty.
+When do I say eins and when ein?
Eins is the bare number, used when counting or giving a figure. Before a noun it behaves like the article: ein Kilo, eine Minute, ein Bier.
+What is zwo, and should I use it?
Zwo is an alternative to zwei, used when clarity matters — phone numbers, addresses, announcements. You do not have to say it, but you should recognise it.
+Do I need numbers before the rest of the grammar?
Yes, more than most learners expect. Prices, times, addresses, ages and dates all come up in your first conversations, and every one of them needs numbers.