Basic numbers: Numbers

💬 The zw at the start is said like English tsv, not like zoo. So zwölf starts roughly (tsverlf).

💬 German often builds bigger numbers as one long word. You can reuse hundert in zweihundert (two hundred) or einhundertfünf (one hundred five).

💬 Numbers from 13 to 19 are usually number + zehn. The pattern repeats: vierzehn, fünfzehn, achtzehn.

💬 Some number words shorten inside bigger numbers: sechs becomes sech- in sechzehn and sechzig. Compare sechs with sechzehn.

💬 sieben shortens to sieb- in siebzehn and siebzig. That same cut happens again in other related numbers.

💬 Numbers from 21 to 99 usually put the ones before the tens: einundzwanzig literally "one-and-twenty." The same pattern gives zweiundzwanzig, dreiunddreißig, neunundneunzig.

💬 ß is pronounced like ss, so dreißig sounds like dreissig, not with a z sound. The same is true in words like Straße.

💬 Like sechzehn, sechzig drops the s from sechs. German does this in a few common number forms, so don't expect every base number to stay unchanged.

💬 siebzig drops the en from sieben. This same shortened stem shows up in siebzehn too.

💬 You use tausend to build bigger numbers as one word or phrase, like zweitausend or tausend eins. German number spelling often joins these parts together.

💬 German usually stacks number parts into one word: einhundert + eins → einhunderteins. The same build-up gives forms like zweihundertdrei and eintausendvier.