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How To Count To 100 In German

You may know 100 German phrases, but learning how to count to 100 in German is a skill that’s easy to overlook.
Counting in German represented by three football players facing away form the camera with their numbers — 8, 5 and 9 — visible.

Numbers come up a lot in conversation, and that doesn’t change just because you’re speaking another language. Whether you’re ordering a certain number of pretzels or asking how many turns you have to make to get to the bathroom, you’ll run into situations when knowing numbers will come in handy as you learn German. To help you out on your next trip to Germany, here’s a quick guide to count to 100 in German.

We could just list all of the numbers one through one hundred, but that wouldn’t explain the logic behind it. So instead, we’ll start with the numbers you need to know, and then show you how it works.

Counting From Zero To Twenty In German

Why count to 20 instead of 10? Well, like many languages, the teens work differently. In English, for example, “eleven” would technically make more sense if it was called “ten-one” to mirror “twenty-one.” In German, a similar thing happens.

zeronull
oneeins
twozwei
threedrei
fourvier
fivefünf
sixsechs
sevensieben
eightacht
nineneun
tenzehn
elevenelf
twelvezwölf
thirteendreizehn
fourteenvierzehn
fifteenfünfzehn
sixteensechzehn
seventeensiebzehn
eighteenachtzehn
nineteenneunzehn
twentyzwanzig

The Rest Of The Tens

thirtydreißig
fortyvierzig
fiftyfünfzig
sixtysechzig
seventysiebzig
eightyachtzig
ninetyneunzig
hundredhundert

Putting It All Together

German numbers are pretty straightforward, but they differ from English in one way. Instead of the tens coming before the ones (ninety-seven), the ones come before the tens (siebenundneunzig, or literally “seven-and-ninety”). The word und in the middle is German for “and,” which comes up a lot in numbers. And German is famous for combining words into larger words, so numbers can indeed look pretty long when written out. If you put the spaces into the words in your head, it can be easier to read.

As you get to larger numbers, the pattern is more predictable. The number 783, for example, is siebenhundertdreiundachtzig (literally, “seven hundred, three-and-eighty”). Once you’ve got the basic numbers down, the only real mistake you have to avoid is saying something like siebzigundvier (seventy and four) instead of vierundsiebzig. Once you get the hang of it, it’s as easy as eins, zwei, drei.

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Thomas Moore Devlin

Thomas is the editorial lead, and he has been at Babbel for over five years. He studied linguistics in college, and also has a background in English literature. He has been based in New York City for 10 years, where he spends most of his free time walking around Brooklyn and reading an unhealthy number of books.

Thomas is the editorial lead, and he has been at Babbel for over five years. He studied linguistics in college, and also has a background in English literature. He has been based in New York City for 10 years, where he spends most of his free time walking around Brooklyn and reading an unhealthy number of books.

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