Numbers 0-20
German numbers are highly regular, with one famous quirk: from twenty-one upward you say the units before the tens — einundzwanzig is literally one-and-twenty.
Vocabulary
- null
- 0
- eins
- 1
- zwei
- 2
- drei
- 3
- vier
- 4
- fünf
- 5
- sechs
- 6
- sieben
- 7
- acht
- 8
- neun
- 9
- zehn
- 10
- fünfzehn
- 15
- zwanzig
- 20
Example Phrases
Wie alt sind Sie?
How old are you?
Ich bin zwanzig Jahre alt.
I am twenty years old.
Was kostet das?
How much does that cost?
Das macht zehn Euro.
That comes to ten euros.
Grammar note
sein for age, not haben
Unlike French and Spanish, German uses sein (to be) for age: ich bin zwanzig Jahre alt. You can drop Jahre alt in casual speech — ich bin zwanzig.
Eins becomes ein before a noun: ein Kaffee, eine Cola. The bare form eins is only for counting.
Cultural note
The thumb counts first
Germans count on their fingers starting with the thumb, so holding up an index finger for one can be read as two. Ordering ein Bier with the wrong finger is a well-worn traveller story.