Numbers, Days, Months and Seasons in German
In this lesson, we’ll learn how to count in German, tell the time and the date and also the names of the seasons.
Cardinal Numbers
0: Null 1: Eins 2: Zwei 3: Drei 4: View 5: Fünf
6: Sechs 7: Sieben 8: Acht 9: Neun 10: Zehn
11: Elf 12: Zwölf 13: Dreizehn 14: Vierzehn 15: Fünfzehn
16: Sechszehn 17: Siebzehn 18: Achtzehn 19: Neunzehn
20: Zwanzig 21: Einundzwanzig 22: Zweiundreizig ....
Note that starting from 20, counting in German is quite different than what we are used to in English. Instead of saying twentyone, first say “one” and then “twenty”: ein und zwanzig.
30: Dreißig
40: Vierzig
50: Fünfzig
60: Sechzig
70: Siebzig
80: Achtzig
90: Neunzig
100: hundert 110:hundertzehn ...
200: zweihundert
1000: tausend
2000: zweitausend ..
1 000 000: eine Million
2 000 000: zwei Millionen
Ordinal numbers:
First: (der/die/das) erste
Second: zweite
Third: dritte
Fourth: vierte
Fifth: fünfte
Sixth: sechste
Seventh: siebte
Eight: achte
Ninth: neunte
Tenth: zenthe
The ordinal numbers end in “-te” up to 20. Starting from 20, they end in “-ste”:
Twentieth: zwanzigste
Hundredth: hunderste
How to tell the time in German
Once you know how to count in German and know the conjugation of to be verb “sein”, you can tell the time in German.
Telling the time is easy. There are a few points which you might find interesting. For example, telling “half past ...” is different than in English.
Let’s start one by one.
To say o’clock in German, use the word “Uhr”. To tell the time start with “es” and the third person singular form of the verb sein in present tense:
- Es ist zwei Uhr (it’s two o’clock)
To say quarter past two, say
- Es ist viertel nach zwei
Similarly, to say quarter to two, say
- Es ist viertel vor zwei
So, you should use nach and vor for past and to. So, you can adapt this information to say different times. For example, it’s five to four is
- Es is fünf vor vier
To ask what time it is, use
- Wieviel Uhr ist es?
To say half past nine say
- Es ist halb zehn
Note that this is quite different than in English. Instead of saying half past nine, you say something like it’s half ten.
Days of the week
Der Montag: monday
Der Dienstag: tuesday
Der Mittwoch: wednesday
Der Donnerstag: thursday
Der Freitag: friday
Der Samstag: saturday
Der Sonntag: sunday
Note that the names of the weekdays are all masculine.
Months
Der Januar: January
Der Februar: February
Der März: March
Der April: April
Der Mai: May
Der Juni: June
Der Juli: July
Der August: August
Der September: September
Der Oktober: October
Der November: November
Der Dezember: December
Note that the names of the months are all masculine.
How to tell the date in German
First of all, with months, the preposition in is used. For example, in September is said like “im September” in German. It is actually in dem September, but when the preposition in is followed by the definite article in the dative case (dem), it is contracted as im.
So, similar to English you use “in” with the months. Recall also that when you define the date in English you use the preposition “on” for example; you say in September but on “fourth of September”. The same logic holds in German. When you define the day, you should use another preposition and it is “an”. So, for on fourth of September, you say “am vierten September”. Note that also here the preposition is followed by “dem” and that’s why it is contracted as “am”.
To ask the day in German, you say
- Welchen Tag haben wir heute? (Which day is today?)
To ask the date
- Der Wievielte ist heute? (What is the date today?)
To answer, first use the word “heute” (today), ist (to be verb sein conjugated in the third person singular) and add the definite article “der” and finally tell the date using the ordinal numbers
- Heute ist der dritte September (today is the third of Sempember)
Seasons
Der Herbst: autumn
Der Winter: winter
Der Frühling: spring
Der Sommer: summer
Note that the names of the seasons are all masculine.
Vocabulary
Other related words
Die Zahl: number
zählen: to count
Der Monat: month
Der Tag: day
Die Jahreszeit: season
Heute: today
Morgen: tomorrow
Übermorgen: the day after tomorrow
Gestern: yesterday
Der Morgen: morning
Der Abend: evening
Die Nacht: night
Die Zeit: time