Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers - Help me learn German

January 6, 2014 Posted in Numerals

Cardinal numbers

1 eins	11 elf	30 dreißig
2 zwei	12 zwölf	40 vierzig
3 drei	13 dreizehn	50 fünfzig
4 vier	14 vierzehn	60 sechzig
5 fünf	15 fünfzehn	70 siebzig
6 sechs	16 sechzehn	80 achtzig
7 sieben	17 siebzehn	90 neunzig
8 acht	18 achtzehn	100 (ein)hundert
9 neun	19 neunzehn	600 sechshundert
10 zehn	20 zwanzig	700 siebenhundert

   1000 (ein)tausend        4000 viertausend
   10 000 zehntausend       100 000 hunderttausend

   1 000 000 eine Million   3 000 000 drei Millionen

   1 00 000 000 hundert Millionen

From 20 to 99 the units come before the tens and are joined by the conjunction und (in English: “and”), e. g.:

24 = 4 + 20 = vier und zwanzig = vierundzwanzig
32 = 2 + 30 zweiunddreißig
64 = 4 + 60 vierundsechzig
96 = 6 + 90 sechsundneunzig
65 fünfundsechzig (5 und 60)
82 zweiundachtzig (2 und 80)
36 sechsunddreißig (6 und 30)

This reverse order characterises only the units and tens, not the hundreds, thousands, millions and so on:

5327 fünftausenddreihundertsiebenundzwanzig (5000 + 300 + 7 + 20)

All the numbers can be used as nouns of the feminine gender, e.g. die Drei =  a mark of three at school or the bus number three, and so on.

Zero is called die Null, and it can be used in the plural, too (Nullen, e.g. Die Ziffer 1 wird von 6 Nullen gefolgt – The digit 1 is followed by 6 zeros)

Die Million is always used as a noun and is written with a capital.  It is even used in the plural when talking about more than one million (zwei Millionen, fünf Millionen, etc.). Hundert and tausend are not used in the plural even if talking about more than one hundred or one thousand (zweihundert, sechstausend, etc.)

Numerals less than one million are written in one single word, so very long words can arise:

128 (ein)hundertachtundzwanzig
256 zweihundertsechsundfünfzig
3674 dreitausendsechshundertvierundsiebzig
92 676 zweiundneunzigtausendsechshundertsechsundsiebzig
863 372 achthundertdreiundsechzigtausenddreihundertzweiundsiebzig

As millions are separate nouns they make up separate words within a numeral:

1 738 539 eine Million siebenhundertachtunddreißigtausendfünfhundertneununddreißig
8 263 802 acht Millionen zweihundertdreiundsechzigtausendachthundertzwei

Year numbers

Year numbers are expressed in a very similar way to English:

1984 – neunzehnhundertvierundachtzig
1848 – achtzehnhundertachtundvierzig
1222 – zwölfhundertzweiundzwanzig
1492 – vierzehnhundertzweiundneunzig

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Ordinal numbers

1. erste	11. elfte	30. dreißigste
2. zweite	12. zwölfte	40. vierzigste
3. dritte	13. dreizehnte	50. fünfzigste
4. vierte	14. vierzehnte	60. sechzigste
5. fünfte	15. fünfzehnte	70. siebzigste
6. sechste	16. sechzehnte	80. achtzigste
7. siebente / siebte	17. siebzehnte	90. neunzigste
8. achte	18. achtzehnte	100. hundertste
9. neunte	19. neunzehnte	1000. tausendste
10. zehnte	20. zwanzigste	1 000 000. millionste

 Ordinal numbers under 19 are formed by -te ending, above 19 they are formed by -ste ending. Irregular ones are: 1. erste, 3. dritte, 8. achte.

When writing ordinal numbers, they do not need to be designated by their last letters and a dot is enough, though last letter designation is also possible: 1st = 1te or 1., 2nd = 2te or 2.

Multiple millions as ordinal numbers are not nouns; they are written in one single word, and a capital first letter is not used.  They do not take a plural: zwei Miliionen, but: zweimillionste.

Ordinal numbers are considered adjectives, so they are declined in the same way as adjectives, e.g. das erste Bild (the first picture).

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Very large numbers – just as a curiosity

Adding a further three zeros to a very large number, we get another number with its own name. So after one million (eine Million) we get one billion (eine Milliarde), then one trillion (eine Billion), then one quadrillion (eine Billiarde). As can be seen the names of large numbers differ significantly between German and English, as in German the -illion and -illiarde endings follow each other alternately.

Similarly to Million, the names of very large numbers are treated as nouns and are used in the plural when speaking about more than one of them:

1 000 000 000 eine Milliarde
2 000 000 000 zwei Milliarden
1 000 000 000 000 eine Billion
3 000 000 000 000 drei Billionen

Very large numbers are expressed as powers of ten. These numbers are not used in everyday life: 

106	million	Million
109	billion	Milliarde
1012	trillion	Billion
1015	quadrillion	Billiarde
1018	quintillion	Trillion
1021	sextillion	Trilliarde
1024	septillion	Quadrillion
1027	octillion	Quadrilliarde
1030	nonillion	Quintilion
1033	decillion	Quintilliarde
1036	undecillion	Sextillion
1039	duodecillion	Sextilliarde
1042	tredecillion	Septillion
1045	quattuordecillion	Septilliarde
1048	quindecillion	Oktillion
1051	sexdecillion	Oktilliarde
1054	septendecillion	Nonillion
1057	octodecillion	Nonilliarde
1060	novemdecillion	Dezillion
1063	vigintillion	Dezilliarde
1066	unvigintillion	Undezillion
1069	duovigintillion	Undezilliarde
1072	tresvigintillion	D(u)odezillion
1075	quattuorvigintillion	D(u)odezilliarde
1078	quinvigintillion	Tredezillion
1081	sesvigintillion	Tredezilliarde
1084	septemvigintillion	Quattuordezillion
1087	octovigintillion	Quattuordezilliarde
1090	novemvigintillion	Quindezillion
1093	trigintillion	Quindezilliarde
1096	untrigintillion	Se(x)dezillion
1099	duotrigintillion	Se(x)dezilliarde