5:40 German numbers for kids — 1 to 20 and beyond
Numbers are the fastest win in German: they are short, they repeat, and a child can use them the same day. Here is the full list from 1 to 20, the tens up to 100, and the two places where English speakers reliably stumble.
German numbers 1 to 10
Say them out loud once, then let the song do the repeating. The pronunciation column is an English approximation, not a phonetic transcription — close enough to be understood.
| Number | German | Sounds roughly like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | eins | EYNSS |
| 2 | zwei | TSVY (rhymes with “why”) |
| 3 | drei | DRY |
| 4 | vier | FEER |
| 5 | fünf | FUENF |
| 6 | sechs | ZEKS |
| 7 | sieben | ZEE-ben |
| 8 | acht | AKHT |
| 9 | neun | NOYN |
| 10 | zehn | TSAYN |
German numbers 11 to 20
| Number | German | Sounds roughly like |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | elf | ELF |
| 12 | zwölf | TSVOELF |
| 13 | dreizehn | DRY-tsayn |
| 14 | vierzehn | FEER-tsayn |
| 15 | fünfzehn | FUENF-tsayn |
| 16 | sechzehn | ZEKH-tsayn |
| 17 | siebzehn | ZEEP-tsayn |
| 18 | achtzehn | AKHT-tsayn |
| 19 | neunzehn | NOYN-tsayn |
| 20 | zwanzig | TSVAN-tsikh |
Watch 16 and 17: they lose a letter. It is sechzehn, not “sechszehn”, and siebzehn, not “siebenzehn”. The same shortening comes back at 60 and 70.
The tens up to 100
| Number | German | Sounds roughly like |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | zwanzig | TSVAN-tsikh |
| 30 | dreißig | DRY-sikh |
| 40 | vierzig | FEER-tsikh |
| 50 | fünfzig | FUENF-tsikh |
| 60 | sechzig | ZEKH-tsikh |
| 70 | siebzig | ZEEP-tsikh |
| 80 | achtzig | AKHT-tsikh |
| 90 | neunzig | NOYN-tsikh |
| 100 | hundert | HOON-dert |
30 is the odd one out: dreißig ends in -ßig, every other ten ends in -zig. And the final -ig is spoken like the “ich” sound in standard German, not like “ig”.
The one thing that trips English speakers up
From 21 upwards, German says the small number first: einundzwanzig is literally “one-and-twenty”. 21, 32, 47 all work that way — the units come before the tens, joined by und.
| Number | German | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | einundzwanzig | one-and-twenty |
| 32 | zweiunddreißig | two-and-thirty |
| 47 | siebenundvierzig | seven-and-forty |
| 99 | neunundneunzig | nine-and-ninety |
Teens are not affected — dreizehn is “three-ten”, exactly like the English “thir-teen”. Only 21 and above flip.
How to practise this with a child
- Count real things, not the list: stairs, apple slices, fingers. Numbers stick to objects, not to a table.
- Stay in 1–10 for the first week. Twenty numbers at once is a vocabulary test; ten is a game.
- Let the song do the repetition. Nobody says “sieben” forty times in a conversation — a song does it without anyone getting bored.
- Use the fingers. German children start counting with the thumb, not the index finger — a small thing that makes the counting look right.
Songs to practise with
Free on YouTube, sung slowly and with an English explanation on every song page.
Questions people ask
How do you count from 1 to 10 in German?
eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn. Approximate pronunciation: EYNSS, TSVY, DRY, FEER, FUENF, ZEKS, ZEE-ben, AKHT, NOYN, TSAYN.
Why does German say the last digit first?
From 21 upwards German joins the units to the tens with und and puts them first: einundzwanzig is “one-and-twenty”. English did the same until a few centuries ago — “four and twenty blackbirds” is the leftover. Teens are unaffected.
Is it sechzehn or sechszehn?
sechzehn. The s of sechs drops out in 16 and in 60 (sechzig). Seven does the same: siebzehn and siebzig, not “siebenzehn”.
At what age can a child learn numbers in another language?
Counting words usually come before real counting. Many two-year-olds can recite a number sequence as a rhyme long before they can count objects with it, and that is fine — the sequence is the raw material the counting is built on later.
What does zwo mean?
It is an alternative for zwei, used on the phone and over radio so that it cannot be confused with drei. Children do not need it, but they will hear it.
Keep going
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