german-lessons.net

Everyone who has at least a slight idea of German probably knows about the amount of really long words that are common for German language. Indeed, there is a well-known tradition of creating compound words in German.

For example, see the words below:

der Bleistift (=pencil)

der Kugelschreiber (=pen)

Both of these words are compound words. Let's take a closer look at them.

As you see the words are built brick by brick, one word added to the other. Sometimes it can be as many as three or four different words. You should pay attention to the gender of the new word. It is always the gender of the last word in the compound one. At the same time the first word is the one that is stressed.

Let's examine some more compound words to get a clear idea of the ways these words can be built.

Noun + Noun

As yoг see in the examples above often two words are just connected without any additional elements (letters) or even lose a letter (-e in "der Farbstift").

However, there are many words where connecting elements are a part of a compound word.

-s- or -es- as a connecting element

Example:

die Arbeit + der Plan = der Arbeitsplan (=work plan)

das Jahr + die Zeit = die Jahreszeit (=time of the year, season)

-n- or -en- as a connecting element

Example:

die Sonne + die Blume = die Sonnenblume (=sunflower)

These connecting consonants are pronounced as a part of the first word of the compound word.

Examples:

das Arbeits-zimmer

der Arbeits-tag

As it has already been mentioned a compound word can consist of three and more words):

der Arm + das Band + die Uhr = die Armbanduhr

(arm) + (band) + (watch) = (wristwatch)

der Ton + das Band + das Gerät = das Tonbandgerät

(tone) + (band) + (device) = (tape recorder)

Even here the gender is still determined according to the last word in the compound word.

Adjective + Noun

To create a compound word you can add together not only two or more nouns but also an adjective and a noun. The resulting word here will be a noun.

For example,

bunt + der Stift = der Buntstift

(colored) + (pen/stick) = colored pencil

groß + die Eltern = die Großeltern

(big/grand) + (parents) = grandparents

Adjective + Adjective

Not only nouns can be compound in German, there is a number of compound adjectives. See the examples below:

dunkel + blau = dunkelblau

(dark) + blue = dark blue

Verb stem + noun

Sometimes the compound word is built upon the verb stem with an addition of the noun.

Example:

waschen + die Maschine = die Waschmaschine

(wash) + (machine) = washing machine

Okay, now you have an idea oft he variety of compound words in German. We have not covered all oft he possible groups of them, though, but the most common ones.

Before we proceed here are a few words that you ought to know:

die Mutter + die Sprache = die Muttersprache

(mother) + (language) = mother tongue/native language

fremd + die Sprache = die Fremdsprache

(foreign) + (language) = foreign language

der Staat + die Sprache = die Staatssprache

(state) + (language) = state language/official language

Exercises:

1. Please read the compound words below, define their gender and try to find the meaning.

Buchhalter

Eisberg

Durchschlag

Wunderkind

Halstuch

Postamt

Schlagbaum

2. Please build new compound words and translate them into English, use the article to define the gender of the nouns

die Telefon, die Nummer

der Plan, die Stadt

das Zentrum, die Stadt

die Tasche, das Tuch

der Baum, der Stamm

3. Find the original German words that were used to create compound words

der Flaschenöffner, der Rasenmäher, die Speicherkarte, die Kaffeetasse, das Kinderbuch

Before we proceed further with our German learning process you need to learn a few new words.

Please check the table below, write down all the words along with their translation and memorize those words.

Now, let's see if you remember anything from our lessons on Plural forms of German nouns. Please read the words below and name the singular form of the noun.

• die Männer
• die Stühle
• die Häuser
• die Wälder
• die Brüder
• die Bäume
• die Schränke
• die Bücher
• die Träume
• die Hände
• die Tücher
• die Mäuse

Read the text below; try to understand the meaning of it, pay attention to plural forms of the nouns.

In der Wohnung Fischers

Das ist ein Zimmer. Das Zimmer ist klein. Rechts sehen wir einen Schrank. Daneben ist eine Liege. Links hängt ein Bücherregal. Viele Bücher stehen dort. Am Fenster steht ein Schreibtisch. Vorn sind drei Stühle. Die Wanduhr zeigt sieben Uhr. Es ist früh. Die Mutter ist nicht da. Sie kommt spät. Der Vater fehlt auch. Die Großmutter geht mit dem Hund und der Katze spazieren.

Monika sitzt im Sessel. Sie liest ein Buch. Peter sitzt am Tisch. Auf dem Tisch liegen Kugelschreiber, Bleistifte, Farbstifte und ein Blatt Papier. Die Farbstifte sind bunt. Sie sind rot, gelb, grün, blau, schwarz, weiß, braun, grau. Daneben steht ein Malkasten. Peter malt. Er malt Frauen und Männer, Jungen und Mädchen, Blumen und Tiere, Häuser und Bäume. Das Bild ist schön. Peter will Maler werden. Das ist sein Traum.

Exercise 1. Please write down a singular form of listed nouns.

die Bücher ______________________

die Stühle ________________

die Kugelschreiber____________________

die Bleistifte ___________________

die Farbstifte _________________

die Blumen _________________

die Tiere _________________

die Jungen _____________________

die Mädchen _________________

die Frauen ________________________

die Männer ___________________

die Häuser _________________

Talking about Time

It is very important to be able to tell time in German. Of course, nowadays most people carry cell phones which can always give you exact time, that too in any country of the world. However, it is always good to be able to talk about time. Here are a few sentences that could help you.

A little bit more of time talk.

And finally.

'Possessive pronouns' is another new grammar topic that we will cover in our lessons. If you were attentive enough you have noticed that we have already used some of possessive pronouns earlier in our texts in previous lessons.

As you will see below each personal pronoun has a corresponding possessive pronoun. The pronouns have personal endings based on the gender and number of the noun this pronoun is used with.

Let's take a look at some of the examples.

Wie ist Ihr Name? What is your name?

Wie heißt Ihre Tochter? What is your daughter's name?

Wie heißt Ihr Hund? What is your dog's name?

Wie heißt Ihre Katze? What is your cat's name?

One thing you should remember is that if you use a possessive pronoun you should not use the article or the negative pronoun kein(e).

You can’t say "Das ist eine meine Lehrerin". The correct sentence would be "Das ist eine Lehrerin" or "Das ist meine Lehrerin".

If you need to use the negation in the sentence use the word 'nicht' ('not').

Das ist nicht mein Buch. This is not my book.

Das ist nicht dein Heft. This is not your notebook.

Possessive pronouns can be declined the same way as nouns. Remember in German language there are four cases (Nominativ, Genitiv, Dativ and Akkusativ). You can see the endings pattern in the table below.

Here are a few exercises to see how well you understood today's and the previous lessons.

1. Choose the correct word

1. Mein Freund _______________ Andreas.

a) heiße   b) heißt   с) heißen

2. Er hat drei  ___________________

a) Schwester   b) Schwestern   c) Schwesters

3. ___________________ Schwester ist Studentin.

a) Sein   b) Seine   c) Seinen

4. Er ______________________ Student.

a) werdt   b) wird   c) werd

5. Der Großvater _________________ nicht.

a) arbeitet   b) arbeiten   c) arbeit

6. Vorn sitzen zwei ___________________

a) Hunden   b) Hunde   c) Hunde

7. Das sind meine ___________________

a) Freundinen    b) Freundinnen   c) Freundin

8. Die Mutter liebt ihre _______________

a) Kinder   b) Kinde   c) Kinden

9. Ich habe _______________________

a) ein Sohn   b) einem Sohn   c) einen Sohn

10.  ____________________ sitzen.

a) Die Rentner   b) Die Rentnern   c) Die Rentners

Tired? I suppose German grammar can make anyone tired. Let's make a short break and read a short poem.

Mein ist nicht dein,

groß ist nicht klein,

jung ist nicht alt,

warm ist nicht kalt.

Schwarz ist nicht weiß,

kalt ist nicht heiß,

dort ist nicht hier,

fünf ist nicht vier.

As you can see there are antonyms in this poem. Find them and write them down.

As our vocabulary part we will learn more antonyms today.

In our previous lesson we had a short break from all the hard (and not so hard) German grammar. Today we are going to learn a new grammar topic. But before we proceed we would like you to note down a few new words.

Vocabulary

Nouns

die Frau – woman

die Freundin -  (girl)friend

die Tante – aunt

die Schule – school

die Universität – University

der Mann – man

der Bruder – brother

der Onkel – uncle

der Schüler – high-school student

das Tier – animal

die Eltern – parents

die Großeltern – grandparents

die Geschwister – siblings

Verbs

arbeiten – to work

lernen – to study

studieren – to study (at the University, College)

unterrichten – to teach

leben – to live

lieben – to love

gern haben – to like (something)

Adjectives

schön, hübsch – beautiful

ruhig – calm

Adverbs

dort – there

hier – here

Now, before we proceed, one small exercise. Look at the pictures and try to understand the meaning of the phrases. You know all (or almost all) words here.

Wer sitzt?

Niemand sitzt.

Alle stehen.

Wer steht?

Niemand steht.

Alle sitzen.

Wer fehlt?

Niemand fehlt.

Alle Touristen sind da.

Okay, that was a really simple exercise. Now let's move to serious stuff. Remember the Fischers? We will learn a bit more about them today.

Please pay attention to the word order in the sentence. The subject can take both the first and the third spot, while the predicate (the verb) will always take the second spot in the German sentences. The only exception is a question sentence when the predicate takes the first spot in the sentence.

Die Familie stellt sich vor – The Family Introduces Itself

Klaus Fischer arbeitet in einer Firma. Er ist Programmierer. Klaus hat eine Schwester und einen Bruder. Sie leben in Berlin. Martina Fischer ist eine hübsche ruhige Frau. Sie ist Lehrerin. Sie arbeitet in der Schule. Sie unterrichtet Literatur. Ihre Schüler lieben sie. Sie hat keine Geschwister. Andrea und Markus arbeiten nicht.

Monika erzählt von sich selbst:

Monika tells about herself:

Ich bin Studentin und ich arbeite nicht. Ich studiere an der Universität. Ich habe einen Bruder. In Berlin leben meine Tante und mein Onkel. Ich habe viele Freundinnen.

Peter erzählt:

Ich bin Schüler. Ich lerne in der Schule. Ich gehe in die fünfte Klasse. Ich liebe meine Eltern und Großeltern. Ich habe auch Tiere gern.

Now try to fill in the blanks in the following sentences. Remember about the conjugation pattern fort he verbs.

1. Monika ______________________ nicht.

2. Sie _____________________ Studentin.

3. Sie _________________ an der Universität.

4. Sie ___________________ einen Bruder.

5. In Berlin _________ ihre Tante und ihr Onkel.

8. Monika ________________ viele Freundinnen.

Plural of German Nouns

Finally we reached the point where we learn new grammar material; more specifically we study plural of German nouns. You have come across nouns in plural form in the text. How is the plural formed? In English it is pretty simple, you just add the ending –s to most of the nouns except for a few exceptions, and there you are. In German it is not that simple. There are different ways/patterns of building the plural forms.

1. Plural Nouns with No Changes

In these cases the only thing that is changed is the article. All nouns are used with the definite article die. Indefinite articles are not used in plural.

der Lehrer — die Lehrer

der Schüler — die Schüler

2. Plural Nouns with Umlaut

These are the nouns with vowels а, о, u. The vowels will change into the relative umlauts, other than that there aren't any changes.

der Vater   — die Väter

der Bruder — die Brüder

die Tochter— die Töchter

3. Plural with –e

der Hund   — die Hunde

der Freund — die Freunde

4. Plural with –e and Umlaut

der Sohn — die Söhne

5. Plural with –er

das Kind — die Kinder

6. Plural with –er and Umlaut

der Mann — die Männer

das Wort — die Wörter

7. Plural with -en/-n

die Katze — die Katzen

For feminine nouns that end with –n this letter is doubled:

die Freundin — die Freundinnen

die Lehrerin — die Lehrerinnen

8. Plural with –s

das Foto — die Fotos

das Kino — die Kinos

das Auto — die Autos

And as in every language there are exceptions that you have to memorize. Below is a list of such exceptions. Mostly these are words foreign to German and have a Greek or Latin origin.

das Museum — die Museen

das Album — die Alben

das Stadion — die Stadien

das Prinzip — die Prinzipien

der Kursus — die Kurse

der Radius — die Radien

der Terminus — die Termini

der Seemann — die Seeleute

der Fachmann — die Fachleute

Some nouns can only be used in Plural.

die Eltern – parents

die Geschwister –siblings

die Großeltern – grandparents

die Leute – people

die Ferien - holidays

Some abstract nouns do not have a plural form and can be used only in their singular form.

das Gold – gold

der Regen – rain

die Liebe – love

der Frieden - peace

Introduction is an important part of communication. No matter if you are introducing yourself, your family member, a friend or a colleague, or if you are being introduced by someone there are certain things that you ought to know to feel comfortable in such a situation.

Let’s start with learning some of the German names. They look a lot like English ones at first sight but if you still remember the rules of spelling, you will see that these names sound different.

Some of the names sound almost alike for men and women. See the example below.

Stephanie - Stephan

Johanna - Johann

Petra - Peter

Heike - Heiko

Friederike - Friedrich

Sometimes you can come across double names, some of them are again tob e found below

Marie-Luise, Anne-Kathrin, Hans-Georg, Ralf-Jörg.

Remember some of the famous Germans:

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Now, let’s get down tot he introduction part.

As you remember there is formal and informal „you“ in German. We use „Sie“ if we are formal (it is called „siezen“) and we use „du“ if we are informal („dutzen“).

Formal introduction

Mein Name ist Klaus Schmidt. (My name is Klaus Schmidt.)

Und wie heißen Sie? (And what is your name?)

Ich heiße Anna Klein. (I am Anna Klein.)

Sehr angenehm! (Nice to meet you!)

Gleichfalls! (Same here!)

Informal introduction

Wie heißt du? (What is your name?)

Mein Name ist Andreas Mueller. (My name is Andreas Mueller.)

Und wie ist dein Name? (And what is your name?)

Ich heiße Peter Miller. (I am Peter Miller.)

Woher kommst du? (Where are you from?)

Ich komme aus den USA. (I am from the USA.)

Und ich komme aus Deutschland. (And I am from Germany.)

The question „Woher kommst du?“ literally means „Where do you come from?“ i.e. „What is your birth place?“

See some examples:

Goethe kommt aus Deutschland.

Leonardo da Vinci kommt aus Italien.

Exercise

-          Imagine the situation. You are going to a large conference in Boston. You meet there an old friend of yours. He introduces you to his friends and new colleagues. Write down possible questions and answers.

-          Imagine a situation where you can use informal introduction. Make up a dialogue.

Today we are going to learn some new vocabulary related to the topic of family.  I sincerely hope that by the end of this lesson you will be able to say a few sentences about your own family.

Lesson’s Vocabulary

Nouns

die Familie – a family

die Mutter – a mother

die Großmutter – a grandmother

die Tochter  - a daughter

die Katze – a cat

der Vater – a father

der Großvater – a grandfather

der Sohn – a son

der Hund – a dog

der Feind – a foe

der Freund – a friend

der Urlaub - a vacation

das Foto – a photo

das Bild – a picture

die Kinder - children

Verbs

sehen – to see

sitzen – to sit

stehen – to stand

liegen – to lie

fehlen – not to be present

Adjectives

groß - big

klein - small

krank  - sick, ill

gesund  - fit

alt - old

angenehm - nice

jung - young

Prepositions

auf - on

in – in

mit - with

Adverbs

vorn – in the foreground

hinten – in the background

Question words

Was? – What?

Wer? – Who?

Wie? –How? What kind of?

Warum? – Why?

Was ist los? – What happened?

These words will help you understand the text below. Let me introduce to you the Fischers (die Famile Fischer).

Die Familie Fischer

Das ist ein Foto. Auf dem Foto sehen wir eine Familie. Das ist eine große Familie. Die Tochter sitzt. Die Mutter sitzt auch. Der Vater steht hinten. Die Kinder ‑ der Sohn und die Tochter ‑ stehen auch. Die Großmutter  und der Großvater fehlen. Sie sind in dem Urlaub. Der Hund mit der Katze liegt vorn.

„Was ist das? Ist das ein Bild?“

„Nein, das ist kein Bild. Das ist ein Foto.“

I suppose you could understand the text easily with all the vocabulary you read (and hopefully learned) beforehand.

So now we can proceed. Below you will find a few questions. Please find the correct answers in the text.

Was sehen wir?

Ist es seine große Familie?

Wer sitzt?

Wer steht?

Wer fehlt?

Was ist los? Warum fehlen sie? Sind sie krank? 

Now we can build some more sentences with the words from our vocabulary.

Der Vater heißt Klaus. – The father’s name is Klaus.

Er ist 49 Jahre alt. – He is 49 years old.

Please read the rest oft he sentences below and translate them into English.

Die Mutter heißt Martina.

Der Hund ist jung.

Der Sohn heißt Peter.

Die Tochter heißt Monika.

Die Großmutter heißt Andrea.

Der Großvater heißt Markus.

Die Tochter ist 22 Jahre alt.

Der Sohn ist 15 Jahre alt.

Der Hund und die Katze sind gute Freunde.

Sie sind keine Feinde.

I think that should have been easy for you. Andi f you were attentive enough you surely have noticed that the verbs have different endings.

Der Vater steht hinten

Die Kinder ‑ der Sohn und die Tochter ‑ stehen auch.

German verbs are to be conjugated based on the person and the number.

Please refer tot he table below.

Please note that if the verb’s stem ends with s, t, ß,then the ending that we will use with the du-pronoun would be -t, and -st.

Du sitzt.   Du heißt.   Wie heißt du? — Ich heiße ...

And just some more grammar for today. In German there are three very importan auxiliary verbs.

sein – to be

haben – to have

werden – will

They have particular conjugation schedules which you just HAVE TO know by heart; else it will be very hard for you to continue with learning German.

SEIN

HABEN

WERDEN

Now some exercises for you.

1. Please fill in the blanks

… sind Studenten.

Er … Student.

… bist Student.

Sie … Studenten.

2.  Answer the questions.

Wie heißt du?

Wie heißt die Mutter?

Wie heißt der Vater?

Hast du einen Freund?

Bist du krank?

3. Tell us about your family using vocabulary from the lesson

We know now that German nouns can be feminine, masculine or neuter. This complicates things for us a bit because the same word can be used in a different way according to the speech situation. Articles are declines according to the noun’s gender. Obviously, the gender is a very important thing then. How do we know which word is masculine and which is feminine. Sometimes it is way beyond any reasonable logic. For example, the word “girl” (das Mädchen) is neuter in German even though logically it just had to be feminine.

In a number of situations we can define the gender of the German noun by its appearance, i.e. the suffix.

Here are some examples.

Masculine Nouns

Feminine Nouns

Neuter Nouns

Added bonus: a prefix that indicates that the noun is neuter.

gе-

das Gedicht

das Geschenk

das Gebäude

das Gesicht

das Gemüse

You can easily understand the meaning of some words while the other ones can be a bit of a challenge. If in doubt look it up in the dictionary.

Tip:

I suppose this is a lot of information to digest right now, the best way to remember all those words is to write them down on the cards, as shown below and check yourself every time you read the word.

For example:

Optionally you can add a translation to the back side, so you can use the cards to remember gender and at the meaning of the word at the same time.

German nouns all start with capital letters, so you can easily spot them in the text. Just like English nouns, German ones are accompanied by articles that indicate the gender, number, and grammar case of the noun.

Articles can be definite and indefinite, just like in English. Just unlike in English German articles change their form based on the case and the number the noun is used in.

All feminine nouns (often marked as f in dictionaries) have the article die.

All masculine nouns (marked as m in dictionaries) have the article der.

All neuter nouns (marked as n in dictionaries) have the article das.

In plural all nouns have the article die.

As in every language, the noun can be replaced by an appropriate pronoun according to the speech situation.

Feminine nouns can be replaced by the pronoun sie.

Masculine nouns can be replaced by the pronoun er.

Neuter nouns can be replaced by the pronoun es.

Example:

Das Buch liegt dort. The book lies there. Es ist interessant. It is interesting.

Okay, this was a bit about definite articles; now let’s learn about indefinite articles.

Each definite article has a corresponding indefinite article. Please note that we only talk about the Nominative case now.

Here is the table that shows a relation between definite and indefinite articles.

The rules of use are the same as in English, too. Basically, first mention – indefinite article. Second mention – definite article. That simple. Of course, there are exceptions but will not go into them today.

Example:

Das ist ein Buch. This is a book.

Das Buch ist interessant. The book is interesting.

All articles can be changed according to the grammar cases. This is a concept, foreign to English, so you will have to learn those forms in order to use them correctly.

There are four cases in German: Nominativ, Genitiv, Dativ and Akkusativ.

The articles are declined the following way:

Don’t worry about cases now, we will have a lesson or two to go deeper into this particular grammar topic.

In our next lesson we will discuss the ways to determine if the noun is masculine, feminine or neuter. It will help us to use the articles and nouns correctly in the future. Till that time please just learn the articles‘ forms by heart.

Last time we learned how to build German numbers. Today we are going to learn some useful phrases and put our knowledge of the numbers to some use. Let’s start with some reading.

Read the statements and questions below. Pay special attention to words in bold.

Wir lernen Deutsch. We are learning German.

Ist das interessant? Is it interesting?

Ja, das ist interessant. Yes, it is interesting.

Ist das angenehm? Is it enjoyable?

Ja, das ist angenehm. Yes, it is enjoyable.

Ist das leicht? Is it easy?

Ja, das ist leicht. Yes, it is easy.

Ist das schwer? Is it complicated?

Ja, das ist schwer. Yes, it is complicated.

Ist das nützlich? Is it useful?

Ja, das ist nützlich.Yes, it is useful.

Was machen wir? What are we doing?

Wir machen Übungen. We are doing exercises.

Wir lesen und schreiben. We are reading and writing.

Wir zählen. We are counting.

Das ist langweilig. It is boring.

As you see German simple phrases in structure look in many ways like relevant English phrases. Let’s see if you can form some on your own. Fill in the blanks in the sentences below. Try not to look too often at the phrases above.

1. Ist das _____________? Is it complicated?

2. Nein, das ist nicht ____. No, it is not complicated.

3. Das ist ____________. It is easy.

4. Ist das ____________? Is it interesting?

5. Nein, das ist nicht ___. No, it is not interesting.

6. Ist das ___________? Is it enjoyable?

7. Nein, das ist nicht ___. No, it is not enjoyable.

8. Das ist ___________. It is boring.

9. Ist das ___________? Is it useful?

10. Ja, das ist_________. Yes, it is useful.

11. Das ist__________  und _____________. It is interesting and useful.

12. Das ist __________ aber____________. It is boring but useful.

Question

Was machst du? What are you doing?

Answers

Ich lerne Deutsch. I am studying German.

Ich lese und schreibe. I am reading and writing.

Ich zähle. I am counting.

Ich mache Übungen. I am doing exercises.

Ich mache Fehler. I am making mistakes.

Ich brauche Hilfe. I need help.

As you see when you speak about yourself, the verb has the ending (-e)

Examples: ich lerne, ich mache, ich lese

Now, pay attention. The verb “brauchen” (need) can be very useful.

Ich brauche Geld. I need money.

Ich brauche Zeit. I need time.

Ich brauche Geduld. I need patience.

Ich brauche Liebe und Sorge. I need love and care.

Ich brauche Aufmerksamkeit. I need attention.

Exercise

Translate into English and tell us what you need.

Ich brauche zwei Kilo Tomaten.

Ich brauche fünf Kilo Kartoffeln.

Ich brauche zehn Liter Benzin.

Ich brauche vier Meter Stoff.

Ich brauche acht Prozent Gewinn.

Measures of Length and Weight in Germany

In order to translate the above sentences correctly you have to learn German measures of length and weight.

Ein Meter (m) hat 100 Zentimeter (cm).

Ein Zentimeter hat 10 Millimeter (mm).

1000 (tausend) Meter (m) sind ein Kilometer (km).

Ein Kilogramm / ein Kilo (kg) hat 1000 Gramm (g).

Ein Kilogramm hat 2 Pfund, 1 Pfund ist 500 g oder ein halbes Kilo.

1 Gramm hat 100 Milligramm (mg).

50 Kilogramm sind ein Zentner (Ztr).

100 Kilogramm sind ein Doppelzentner

1000 Kilogramm heißen eine Tonne (t).

If you are worried that German is too complicated for you, here is a famous German proverb that can prove you wrong:

Übung macht den Meister.

which means

Skills come with practice.

Good luck!

If you want to understand German you will have to learn how to deal with numbers. In our digital age numbers play a large role, be it a phone number, time, dates, etc.

So, let’s start getting to know German numbers.

Below you will find the table with the numbers from 0 to 20. If you refer to our first lesson here you will know how to read them.

As you see all ‘teens’ consist of two components: the word “zehn” which means “ten” and then the first part is always the number from the first 10 with small changes in sechzehn (16) und siebzehn (17).

In the following table you will see that all the “tens” are formed with help of the suffix -zig, and only 30 is formed with use of the suffix -ßig.

More to the numbers:

100 — hundert odereinhundert

200 — zweihundert

300 — dreihundert usw. (etc)

1000 — tausend oder eintausend

10000 — zehntausend

100000 — hunderttausend

1000000 — Million

Wir rechnen. We are solving.

2+3 =5 zwei plus drei ist fünf

8-5 =3 acht minus fünf ist drei

3*5=15 drei mal fünf ist fünfzehn

20:4=5 zwanzig durch vier ist fünf

Solve the following math problems, speak them aloud:

Two-digit numbers are read right to left:

2 + 20 = 22   zwei und zwanzig ist zweiundzwanzig (und ist he same as plus in this context)

Read:

Now, you can easily understand German numbers. Next time we will create our first German phrases and put our knowledge of German numbers to some use.