Big numbers, prices, phone numbers and years
Read and say hundreds, thousands and millions, understand a price like 3,50 €, give your phone number and say the year you were born.
Numbers and time · Start from zero · 20 min · 20 exercises · Start from zero, Living in Germany, Goethe A1
With the numbers up to 100 in your pocket, the big ones are easy: German simply glues the parts together into one long word. In this lesson you also learn three things you will use every single day in Germany: how a price like 3,50 € is said, how to give your phone number and how to say a year. Two small writing habits are different from the US: the comma in prices and the dot in thousands.
Hundreds, thousands and millions
- hundertone hundredor einhundert
- zweihunderttwo hundredone word
- fünfhundertfive hundred
- tausendone thousandor eintausend
- zweitausendtwo thousand
- zehntausendten thousand
- eine Milliondie Millionenone milliona noun, capital M, plural Millionen
- der Euroeurono plural ending after a number: zehn Euro
- der Centcentpronounced like the English word
- der Preisdie Preiseprice
- die Telefonnummerdie Telefonnummernphone number
- die Handynummercell phone numberdas Handy is the cell phone
- das Jahrdie Jahreyear
- geborenbornIch bin 2010 geboren.
Inside the platform every word is read aloud by a German voice.
Building big numbers: one long word
| Written | German | How it is built |
|---|---|---|
| 101 | hunderteins | hundert + eins |
| 110 | hundertzehn | hundert + zehn |
| 121 | hunderteinundzwanzig | hundert + einundzwanzig |
| 200 | zweihundert | zwei + hundert |
| 365 | dreihundertfünfundsechzig | dreihundert + fünfundsechzig |
| 1.000 | tausend | the dot separates thousands |
| 1.500 | tausendfünfhundert | tausend + fünfhundert |
| 2.026 | zweitausendsechsundzwanzig | zweitausend + sechsundzwanzig |
| 10.000 | zehntausend | zehn + tausend |
| 1.000.000 | eine Million | a separate noun |
Prices: say Euro where you see the comma
German prices use a comma, not a point, and the euro sign comes after the number: 3,50 €. To say it, read the euros, say Euro, then read the cents: drei Euro fünfzig. Prices under one euro are said in cents: 0,99 € = neunundneunzig Cent. Euro and Cent never take a plural ending after a number. To ask, use Was kostet das? (What does that cost?); the answer is Das kostet ... or, at the register, Das macht ... (That comes to ...).
Reading prices
| Price tag | Say | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1,00 € | ein Euro | one euro |
| 2,50 € | zwei Euro fünfzig | two euros fifty |
| 3,99 € | drei Euro neunundneunzig | three euros ninety-nine |
| 12,80 € | zwölf Euro achtzig | twelve euros eighty |
| 0,50 € | fünfzig Cent | fifty cents |
| 100,00 € | hundert Euro | one hundred euros |
Exchanging phone numbers
Jonas and Amira are in the same German course in Bern and want to study together.
Phone numbers and years
A phone number is read digit by digit or in pairs, as you prefer: 0176 23 45 19 = null eins sieben sechs, dreiundzwanzig, fünfundvierzig, neunzehn. Zero is null; on the phone many people say zwo instead of zwei so it is not confused with drei. Years before 2000 are said in hundreds: 1999 = neunzehnhundertneunundneunzig. From 2000 on they are said like normal numbers: 2026 = zweitausendsechsundzwanzig. Say a year without in: Ich bin 2010 geboren, or im Jahr 2010.
Saying a year
| Year | German | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| 1850 | achtzehnhundertfünfzig | hundreds: achtzehn + hundert + fünfzig |
| 1989 | neunzehnhundertneunundachtzig | hundreds |
| 1999 | neunzehnhundertneunundneunzig | hundreds |
| 2000 | zweitausend | normal number |
| 2010 | zweitausendzehn | normal number |
| 2026 | zweitausendsechsundzwanzig | normal number |
Big numbers in real life
- Was kostet das?What does that cost?
- Das kostet drei Euro fünfzig.That costs three euros fifty.3,50 €
- Das macht zusammen zwölf Euro achtzig.That comes to twelve euros eighty altogether.at the register
- Deutschland hat etwa vierundachtzig Millionen Einwohner.Germany has about eighty-four million inhabitants.Millionen: plural of Million
- Ich bin zweitausendneun geboren.I was born in 2009.no in before the year
- Die Postleitzahl ist acht null drei drei eins.The zip code is 80331.postal codes are read digit by digit
The comma and the dot change places
In Germany the roles of the comma and the point are swapped compared to the US: 3,50 € is three euros fifty, and 1.000 € is one thousand euros. The euro sign stands after the number. Prices in shops always include the sales tax (MwSt.), so you pay exactly what the tag says. Austria also uses the euro; Switzerland pays in Franken (CHF), but writes prices the same way: 4.50 or 4,50.
When someone says a price fast, listen for the word Euro: everything before it is the euros, everything after it is the cents. Sieben Euro zwanzig is 7,20 €. For phone numbers, ask Langsamer, bitte (slower, please) or Noch einmal, bitte (once more, please), and repeat the pairs back to check them.
Do not say twenty twenty-six for 2026: German years after 2000 are zweitausendsechsundzwanzig, never zwanzig sechsundzwanzig. Years before 2000 need hundert in the middle: neunzehnhundertneunzig, not neunzehnneunzig. And Million is a noun with a capital letter: zwei Millionen, with -en in the plural, while hundert and tausend stay small and never change.
The exercises of this lesson
20 corrected exercises in two sessions (discovery, practice), including listening items read aloud by a German voice: multiple choice (4), fill in the gap (5), matching (3), sorting (2), word order (1), translation (3), find the mistake (1), gap text (1). Every answer is corrected immediately, with the rule that applies.