Cardinal numbers are numbers such as 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. The first ten cardinal numbers are:
null zero
eins one
zwei two
drei three
vier four
fünf five
sechs six
sieben seven
acht eight
neun nine
Zwo may be used instead of zwei where zwei might be mistake for drei.
The teens are as follows.
zehn ten
elf eleven
zwölf twelve
dreizehn thirteen
vierzehn fourteen
fünfzehn fifteen
sechzehn sixteen
siebzehn seventeen
achtzehn eighteen
neunzehn nineteen
Multiples of ten are formed as follows.
zwanzig twenty
dreißig thirty
vierzig forty
fünfzig fifty
sechzig sixty
siebzig seventy
achtzig eighty
neunzig ninety
Numbers such as 47 are not formed the same way as in English. Forty-seven is siebenundvierzig — "sevenandforty." If eins is the first number in such a compound, it drops the final s.
einundzwanzig twenty-one
neunundneunzig ninety-nine
The word for "hundred" is hundert. One hundred can be either hundert alone or einhundert.
hundert one hundred
zweihundert two hundred
zweihundertsiebenundvierzig two hundred forty-seven
The word for "thousand" is tausend. The word for "million" is Million. The word for an American billion or a British thousand million is Milliarde. An American trillion or a British million million is a Billion. An American quadrillion or a British thousand million million is a Billiarde. I believe this pattern (Latin prefix plus appropriate suffix) continues on indefinitely.
An example of a large number is:
eine Million zweihundertvierunddreißigtausendfünfhundertsiebenundsechzig one million, two hundred thirty-four thousand, five hundred sixty-seven.
When used before a noun, eins is declined like ein. This includes time expressions such as um ein Uhr.
In English, commas are used to separate groups of three digits. In German, spaces or periods are used.
1 234 567 1,234,567
1.234.567 1,234,567
Ordinal numbers are numbers such as first, second, third, and so on. In German, they are declined. All of the numbers from 4 to 19 are formed by the cardinal number plus -t (with the exception of siebt and acht), as well as a suffix. All of the numbers from 20 up are formed by the cardinal number plus -st and the appropriate suffix.
erst first
zweit second
dritt third
viert fourth
fünft fifth
sechst sixth
siebt seventh
acht eighth
neunt ninth
zehnt tenth
neunzehnt nineteenth
zwanzigst twentieth
einundzwanzigst twenty-first
hundertst hundredth
hunderterst one hundred first
tausendst thousandth
millionst millionth
Das Neujahr ist am ersten Januar. New Year's Day is on the first of January.
Instead of writing "1st," "2nd," "3rd," "4th," and so on, Germans write the numeral followed by a period.
47. 47th
Fractions are formed by substituting the -t ending of ordinal numbers with -tel. The resulting words are neuter nouns, but are inflected only in the genitive singular, where they add an -s.
zwei Drittel two thirds
drei Viertel three quarters
"Half," however is translated by either die Hälfte or halb-.
eine halbe Minute half a minute
Also note:
anderthalb one and a half
eineinhalb one and a half
The decimal point is actually a comma (komma) in German.
drei komma eins vier three point one four
3,14 3.14