Numbers · time · date
Zahlen, Uhrzeit und Datum
German numbers, clock times and dates work like this: 21 = einundzwanzig, 10 Uhr, am 5. Mai.
Halb drei is not half past three, it is half past two. German counts the half hour toward the hour that is coming, not the one that has passed — the one place where your English instinct works backwards. Numbers, clock times and dates on one page.
The skeleton of a number
ShortcutTwo-digit numbers are read backwards: 21 = “one and twenty”. And halb drei is not half past three, it is half past two.
| Range | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 0–12 | Learn by heart — short list | null · eins · zwei · drei · vier · fünf · sechs · sieben · acht · neun · zehn · elf · zwölf |
| 13–19 | unit + zehn | dreizehn · vierzehn · fünfzehn · sechzehn · siebzehn · achtzehn · neunzehn |
| the tens | unit + zig | zwanzig · dreißig · vierzig · fünfzig · sechzig · siebzig · achtzig · neunzig |
| 21–99 | unit + und + tens · one single word | 21 = einundzwanzig · 47 = siebenundvierzig · 99 = neunundneunzig |
| 100 and up | Left to right, but the last two digits are still backwards | 137 = hundertsiebenunddreißig · 2026 = zweitausendsechsundzwanzig |
There are five irregular spellings, all in bold in this table: sechzehn and sechzig (sechs loses its s), siebzehn and siebzig (sieben loses its en), dreißig (ßig, not zig).
Why the backwards order hurts so much: in English you write a number in the order you hear it — “forty-seven”, 4 first. In German you hear the 7 first and your pen is still waiting for the 4. Phone numbers, IBANs and prices are where your handwriting ends up in the wrong order. (Old English had this too — “four and twenty blackbirds” — so it is less alien than it feels.)
einundzwanzig
21 — “one and twenty”
zweiundvierzig Euro
42 euros
Practical trick: Germans often read phone numbers in pairs — 0176 / 23 45 67 is said null eins sieben sechs — dreiundzwanzig — fünfundvierzig — siebenundsechzig. So inside every pair the order is still backwards. If you get lost, “Können Sie bitte einzeln sagen?” — “Could you say them one by one, please?” — is completely normal and nobody minds.
eins or ein
On its own, 1 is eins. But the moment it stands in front of a noun it is declined like an article and loses its s.
Wie viel? — Eins.
How many? — One. (the bare number)
ein Buch · eine Frau · ein Kind
with a noun — like an article
Es ist ein Uhr.
It’s one o’clock. — not “eins Uhr”
Es ist eins.
It’s one. — drop Uhr and the s comes back
Clock time — two separate systems
German has two ways of telling the time: official and everyday. Both are common; the everyday one turns up in the exam and at the door, and that is where the trap is.
| Time | Official (stations, appointments) | Everyday (speech) |
|---|---|---|
| 14:00 | vierzehn Uhr | zwei |
| 14:15 | vierzehn Uhr fünfzehn | Viertel nach zwei |
| 14:30 | vierzehn Uhr dreißig | halb drei |
| 14:45 | vierzehn Uhr fünfundvierzig | Viertel vor drei |
| 14:10 | vierzehn Uhr zehn | zehn nach zwei |
| 14:50 | vierzehn Uhr fünfzig | zehn vor drei |
The official system uses the 24-hour clock and reads the digits as they are — it is almost impossible to get wrong. When you book an appointment or confirm a date, prefer the official system: say vierzehn Uhr dreißig and the risk of a mix-up drops to zero.
- Wie spät ist es? / Wie viel Uhr ist es? — What time is it?
- Es ist halb neun. — It’s half past eight.
- Um wie viel Uhr…? — At what time…?
- Um acht Uhr. — At eight. · Gegen acht. — Around eight.
- Von neun bis fünf. — From nine to five.
- Ab Montag. — From Monday on.
Dates — ordinals and am
In a date the number no longer answers “how many” but “which one” — so it turns into an ordinal, just like English “the fourth”, “the twentieth”. The rule in two lines:
| Range | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1–19 | -te | der vierte · der zehnte · der neunzehnte |
| 20 and up | -ste | der zwanzigste · der einunddreißigste |
| Three irregular ones | — | 1. der erste · 3. der dritte · 7. der siebte |
In writing an ordinal is shown as digit + full stop: 3. Mai = dritter Mai. Forget the full stop and you have written “3 May (as a plain count)” instead of “the 3rd of May”.
- Der Wievielte ist heute? — What’s the date today?
- Heute ist der 3. Mai. — Today is 3 May. (nominative: der dritte)
- Ich habe am 3. Mai Geburtstag. — My birthday is on 3 May. (am dritten — dative)
- im Mai · im Sommer · im Jahr 2026 — month, season, year
- am Montag · am Wochenende — day
- in der Nacht — the one exception: night takes in
Because am = an dem (dative), the ordinal takes -en: am dritten Mai. In the nominative it is -e: der dritte Mai. Why it changes is explained on the cases page.
What you just learned
Heute ist der ___ Mai. (1)
Show the answer
erste. The ordinal for eins is irregular and takes the ending -e in the nominative.
“halb acht” means 08:30.
Show the answer
False. German time looks forward. halb acht is half the way to eight, so 07:30.
What number is siebenundsechzig?
Show the answer
67. The unit is said first: sieben (7) und sechzig (60).
Traps
halb drei = 2:30, not 3:30
In British English “half three” means 3:30 — it comes after three. German halb drei means “half the way to three” — so 2:30. This one trap sends people to an appointment an hour early or an hour late.
halb drei
14:30 / 02:30 — “half past two”
halb acht
07:30 — “half past seven”
Sentence to memorise: Germans look forward when they tell the time. Take the number you hear and think one less.
Writing the number in the order you hear it
When you hear sechsundvierzig, your hand writes 6 first. The right answer is 46. If you are holding a pen, leave room for two digits and fill in the units from the right.
dreiundachtzig
83 — not 38
achtunddreißig
38 — not 83
dreizig · sechszehn · siebenzig
There are five spelling exceptions and they are misspelled all the time: dreißig (not dreizig), sechzehn · sechzig (not sechszehn), siebzehn · siebzig (not siebenzig).
Decimal and thousands separators are swapped
German uses the comma for decimals and the full stop for thousands — the exact opposite of English. 1.500,50 € = one thousand five hundred euros fifty cents, and it is read: eintausendfünfhundert Euro fünfzig.
3,5 = drei Komma fünf
three point five
Writing the date in American order
German dates are written day.month.year: 03.05.2026 = 3 May 2026. If you are used to the American order (month/day), you will miss your appointment date.
Saying the year with “in”
A year is said either on its own or with im Jahr. The English habit of “in 2026” is wrong in German.
In 2026 fahre ich nach Berlin.
extra preposition
2026 fahre ich nach Berlin.
I’m going to Berlin in 2026.
Im Jahr 2026 fahre ich nach Berlin.
same meaning, formal tone
Build the sentence yourself
Tap the words and put them in order. This is the hardest part of German — and there are no options to pick from, you build it.
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tap the words
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tap the words
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tap the words
Know this before the test
The core of the topic in three lines, then the mistakes people make most often.
- Numbers are built backwards
21 = einundzwanzig (one-and-twenty). 67 = siebenundsechzig. Units first, then tens.
einundzwanzig = 21
- halb looks FORWARD
halb neun = 8:30 — half of nine, NOT half past nine. Viertel vor/nach is the quarter you already know.
halb neun = 8:30
- Dates use ordinals
am ersten Mai · am dritten Oktober. 1st, 3rd, 7th and 8th are irregular: erste · dritte · siebte · achte.
am dritten Mai
- Full stop and comma are swapped
1.500,50 € — full stop for thousands, comma for decimals. dreißig is written with ß.
1.500,50 €
halb neun = 9:30
halb neun = 8:30
The English “half nine” reflex turns it around; halb looks at the coming hour.
zwanzigeins
einundzwanzig
The unit is said first.
dreisig
dreißig
30 is written with ß (except in Switzerland).
am drei Mai
am dritten Mai
A date needs an ordinal; drei → dritte is irregular.
Test yourself
Tap an answer — we will look at why together.
What number is siebenundsechzig?
Es ist halb neun. What time is it?
14:45 — how do you say it in everyday speech?
Which one is spelled correctly?
My birthday is on 3 May.
It’s one o’clock.
ein Uhr — not “eins”
Practice done — –
To finish the topic, take the full test: score 60% and it is marked as done on your level path.
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Numbers · time · date pocket card
This whole page — tables, traps, examples — as one PDF. Download it, print it, run through it before the exam.
Related topics
der · die · das
read the ending, not the word
Stop memorising der/die/das one word at a time; read the ending instead.
Directions and asking the way
Biegen Sie rechts ab
Directions in German are given with short set phrases such as Biegen Sie rechts ab, geradeaus weiter.
The preposition um
um acht Uhr · um den Tisch
um is a German preposition that always takes the Akkusativ: um acht Uhr (at eight o’clock), um den Tisch (around the table).