Today's words · 🔢 Numbers & units
Counting in German: 10 numbers and units for everyday life
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Once ‘a kilo of apples, please’ rolls off your tongue at a German market, daily life gets easier.
Saturday morning at the market (Wochenmarkt). You point at the apples and the stallholder asks: Wie viel? Do you give a number or a weight? And the price label has a comma where you'd expect a dot.
Today's ten words are about numbers and units: counting, half, per cent, metres, kilos and litres. With them, shopping, reading sale signs and asking how far something is all get much easier. 🔢
📋 The ten words at a glance
🧠 Words, examples and memory tricks
die Zahl
[TSAHL]number, figure(Pl. die Zahlen)
📌 Schreib die Zahl bitte auf.
→ Please write the number down.
💡 Same family as zählen (to count) 🔢 German Z always sounds like ‘ts’.
⚠ A phone or room number is die Nummer. Zahl is the figure itself.
zählen
[TSAY-len]to count(zählt – hat gezählt)
📌 Das Kind kann schon bis zehn zählen.
→ The child can already count to ten.
💡 Zahl + two dots + -en = to count the numbers 🧮
⚠ Without dots, zahlen means to pay! Zahlen, bitte! = The bill, please.
hundert
[HOON-dert](a) hundred📌 Das kostet hundert Euro.
→ That costs a hundred euros.
💡 Same root as hundred 💯 Say them together and you'll hear it.
Bonus No ‘one’ needed: hundert = einhundert
tausend
[TOW-zent](a) thousand📌 Die Stadt ist über tausend Jahre alt.
→ The town is over a thousand years old.
💡 A brother of thousand 🎉 The th just became a t.
⚠ Germans write 1.000 with a point and use a comma for decimals: 2,50 €
die Hälfte
[HELF-tuh]half(Pl. die Hälften)
📌 Die Hälfte der Klasse ist krank.
→ Half the class is ill.
💡 From halb (half) 🍕 Related to English half too.
⚠ The noun is die Hälfte; the adjective is halb: ein halbes Brot.
das Prozent
[proh-TSENT]per cent(Pl. die Prozente)
📌 Heute gibt es 20 Prozent Rabatt.
→ There's a 20 per cent discount today.
💡 From Italian per cento (per hundred) 🏷️ Just like per cent.
Bonus On sale signs: 30 Prozent Rabatt = 30% off
der Meter
[MAY-ter]metre, meter(Pl. die Meter)
📌 Das Zimmer ist vier Meter lang.
→ The room is four metres long.
💡 From Greek metron (measure) 📏 Long ‘ay’ at the start.
⚠ The plural is the same: zwei Meter (no -s!)
der Kilometer
[kee-loh-MAY-ter]kilometre(Pl. die Kilometer)
📌 Bis zum Bahnhof sind es zwei Kilometer.
→ It's two kilometres to the station.
💡 kilo (thousand) + Meter 🚲 Meter is der, so der Kilometer.
Bonus Speed is often given in Stundenkilometer: hundert Stundenkilometer = 100 km/h
das Kilo
[KEE-loh]kilo(Pl. die Kilo(s))
📌 Ein Kilo Äpfel, bitte.
→ A kilo of apples, please.
💡 Short for Kilogramm 🍎 At the market, it's always Kilo.
⚠ After a number, usually no plural: zwei Kilo Äpfel.
der Liter
[LEE-ter]litre(Pl. die Liter)
📌 Ich kaufe einen Liter Milch.
→ I'm buying a litre of milk.
💡 From Greek litra 🥛 Milk, juice, beer — all in Liter.
Bonus half a litre = ein halber Liter
🇩🇪 A spoonful of German culture
In Germany prices are written with a comma, like 2,50 €, and thousands get a point. So 1.500 means one thousand five hundred. Double-check price tags until you're used to it!
Numbers like 21 are said ‘one-and-twenty’: einundzwanzig. Take extra care when someone reads out a phone number.
Counting on your fingers works differently too. Germans usually start with the thumb for ‘one’, so ordering two beers means showing your thumb and index finger. 👍
✅ Quick quiz
Q. At the market you want a kilo of apples. What do you say?
- ① Ein Liter Äpfel, bitte.
- ② Ein Kilo Äpfel, bitte.
- ③ Ein Meter Äpfel, bitte.
Show the answer
② Ein Kilo Äpfel, bitte.
Weight is in Kilo; Liter is for liquids and Meter for length.
Pick three things at home and say their amounts in German — ein Liter Milch, ein Kilo Reis, and so on! 🛒
🔜 Tomorrow's topic: 💭 Giving opinions