Das Alphabet

German Scrabble Anyone?

The German alphabet is not so different from English, apart from a few extra letters. Many of
the pronunciations of the letters, however, are different, especially with the vowels. While
learning letters may not seem important, there may be occasions in which you are asked to
spell something (your name, for example) or someone might be spelling something out to you.
In these cases, knowing your letters will be of tremendous help. The alphabet is one of the first
formal language pieces that German-speaking children learn, just as English-speaking children.

Alphabe Letter Name English Sound German Word

Translation
t Pronunciation Comparison Example

A ah as in father Angst fear

B bay as in baby Brot bread

C tsay as in cat Charakter character

D day as in day Datum date

E ay as in elegant Elefant elephant

F eff as in Friday Fisch fish

G gay as in good Gold gold

H ha as in how Haus house

I ee as in feet Iglu igloo

J yott as in yes jetzt now

K kah as in kite Kaffee coffee

L el as in like Licht light

M em as in mouse Mann man

N en as in now Nacht night

O oh as in office offen open

P pay as in pipe Pfeffer pepper

Q koo as in quiet Quelle source

R air as in race Ratte rat

S es as in sock sud south

T tay as in top Telefon telephone

U ooh as in blue Uhu owl

V fau as in feather Vater father

W vay as in vibe Wolf wolf

X iks as in zebra Xenon xenon

Y ipsilon as in yellow Yacht yacht

Z tset as in pizza Zeit time

Letters Not Found in English
Umlaut
There are a few letters in German that are not familiar to English speakers. First, there are
several vowels that can get an umlaut, or two dots above them. The umlaut creates a different
sound for the vowels. We do not have these sounds in English. They tend to be a little more
nasal and in the back of the throat.
Numbers
What time is it? How much are the apples? What's the address to the hotel? Numbers are a
very important part of our communication system and should be one of the first vocabulary
items learned when studying a foreign language. Whether you are telling the time, shopping,
looking for an address, making a phone call, paying the bill in a restaurant, riding the train, etc.,
knowing your numbers in German will be tremendously helpful.

Don't worry, you won't have to memorize each number. Once you memorize 1-12 and the
numbers by 10's from 20-100, you can formulate any number in between from a pattern! Let's
get started.

One to Twelve
The numbers from 1-12 are each unique and should be memorized:

Number German Word Pronunciation

1 eins eyns (long i sound, as in 'pie' or 'fly')
2 zwei tsvey (long i sound)
3 drei dry
4 vier feer
5 fünf fuhnf
6 sechs zex
7 sieben ZEE-bin
8 acht akt
9 neun noin
10 zehn tsayn
11 elf elf
12 zwölf tsvolf
Examples:
 Es gibt sieben Tage in einer Woche. (There are 7 days in a week.)
 Es gibt zwölf Monate in einem Jahr. (There are 12 months in a year.)
 Eins plus sieben ist acht. (One plus seven is eight.)

Thirteen to Nineteen
The numbers from 13-19 follow a pattern: three-ten for 13 (dreizehn), four-ten for 14
(vierzehn), five-ten for 14 (fünfzehn), etc., with the exception of 17, which is shortened
to siebzehn.

Number German Word Pronunciation

13 dreizehn DRY-tsain

14 vierzehn FEAR-tsain

15 fünfzehn FUHNF-tsain

16 sechszehn ZEX-tsain

17 siebzehn ZEEB-tsain

18 achtzehn AKT-tsain

19 neunzehn NOIN-tsain

Twenty to One Hundred

For the rest of the numbers, first learn the tens (20, 30, 40, etc.),

Number German Word Pronunciation

20 zwanzig TSVAN-zig
30 dreißig DRY-sig
40 vierzig FEAR-tsig
50 fünfzig FUHNF-tsig
60 sechzig ZEX-tsig
70 siebzig SEEB-tsig
80 achtzig AHKT-sig
90 neunzig NOIN-tsig
100 hundert HOON-dert

For any number in between, simply follow the pattern: one-and-twenty (einundzwanzig), two-
and-twenty (zweiundzwanzig), three-and-twenty (dreiundzwanzig), all the way through nine.

Translation = There are 24 hours in a day.

It is the same for the rest of the numbers up to 100 as well:

31 - einunddreizig (EYN-unt-dry-tsig)

44 - vierundvierzig (FEAR-unt-fear-tsig)

56 - sechsundfünfzig (ZEX-unt-fuhnf-tsig)

68 - achtundsechzig (AHKT-unt-zex-tsig)

71 - einundziebzig (EYN-unt-seeb-tsig)

85 - fünfundachzig (FUHNF-unt-ahkt-tsig)

99 - neunundneunzig (NOIN-unt-noin-tsig)
Ordinal Numbers:
Ordinal numbers are the kinds of numbers that show what order things come in, such as first,
second, third, etc. (erst, zweit, dritt, usw.) You use ordinal numbers when you're talking about
dates (December 1), floors in a hotel (on the third floor), the finish order in a race (second
place), and things of this nature.

The general rule for forming ordinal numbers is to add -te to the numbers 1 through 19 and
add -ste to the numbers 20 and higher. In English, when we write the ordinal numbers in
numeric form, we have different endings (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.). To write the numeric form of
the ordinal number in German, just add a period after the number, such as 1., 2., 3., 4., etc.

The Ordinal Numbers

Below is a table showing the numbers 1 to 21 and how you can write the ordinal form of each.

Numera
Cardinal Ordinal Pronunciation Numeric Form
l

1 eins erste EHR-ste 1.

2 zwei zweite TSVEY-te 2.

3 drei dritte DRIT-te 3.

4 vier vierte FEAR-te 4.

5 fünf fünfte FUHNF-te 5.

6 sechs sechste ZEX-te 6.

7 sieben siebte ZEEB-te 7.

8 acht achte AHKT-te 8.

9 neun neunte NOIN-te 9.

10 zehn zehnte TSAYN-te 10.

11 elf elfte ELF-te 11.

12 zwölf zwölfte TSVOLF-te 12.

13 dreizehn dreizehnte DRY-tsain-te 13.

14 vierzehn vierzehnte FEAR-tsain-te 14.

15 fünfzehn fünfzehnte FUHNF-tsain-te 15.

16 sechzehn sechzehnte ZEX-tsain-te 16.

17 siebzehn siebzehnte ZEEB-tsain-te 17.

18 achtzehn achtzehnte AHKT-tsain-te 18.

19 neunzehn neunzehnte NOIN-tsain-te 19.

20 zwanzig zwanzigste TSVAN-tsig-ste 20.

einundzwanzi einundzwanzigst
21 EYN-unt-tswan-tsig-ste 21.
g e

Note: From 21 on, just add -ste to the cardinal number to get the ordinal number.

Who is in first place?

Examples
 Nummer 117 ist im ersten Platz. (Number 177 is in first place).
 Nummer 237 ist im zweiten Platz. (Number 237 is in second place.)
 Nummer 19 ist im dritten Platz. (Number 19 is in third place.)