Zahlen 0–10

The eleven you build everything from

null, eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn. Say them aloud in order until they come without thinking — every bigger number reuses them.

• Meine Telefonnummer ist null-eins-sieben-drei. My phone number is 0-1-7-3.
• Ich habe zwei Brüder und eine Schwester. I have two brothers and one sister.

Quick check

Which number comes after sechs?

eins when counting, ein before a noun

The bare number is eins. As soon as a noun follows, it becomes the article ein / eine (and it agrees with the noun's gender).

• eins, zwei, drei … one, two, three …
• ein Apfel, eine Banane, ein Brot one apple, one banana, one loaf

English has one word for both. In German the count word and the article are different words.

Quick check

Ich habe Bruder.

z = ts, ei = eye, ie = ee

zwei is 'tsvai', zehn is 'tsayn'. The ei in zwei and drei sounds like English 'eye'; the ie in sieben and vier sounds like 'ee'. Say sechs like 'zex'.

• zwei – drei – vier tsvai – dry – feer
• sieben – sechs zee-ben – zex

Quick check

How does zwei sound?

Words · tap to hear

The words you need

• null zero
• eins one
• zwei two
• drei three
• vier four
• fünf five
• sechs six
• sieben seven
• acht eight
• neun nine
• zehn ten
• dieZahl number · pl. -en
• dieNummer number (phone, house) · pl. -n

Listen

Play it, then pick what you heard.

In context

Hear it in a real exchange

What's your phone number? – 0152, 387. And how many children do you have? – Two: one son and one daughter.

Spot the mistake

Which one is right?

Spot the mistake

Which one is right?

Cheat sheet

What to take with you

• The eleven you build everything from
• eins when counting, ein before a noun
• z = ts, ei = eye, ie = ee