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German grammar

CEFR A1-A2

4 min read

Test yourself (23 questions)

German Big Numbers: Million, Milliarde, Prices and Years

By Michael McGettrickUpdated 11 October 2026

Below a million, German numbers are one long word (see German numbers). From a million up they become nouns, and the scale is not the English one: a German Billion is a trillion. Add the swapped comma, prices with the currency in the middle and years said in hundreds, and you have every big number.

Quick check

Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.

Pick the right one

0/3

Pick the German that means the same.

  1. a billion (a thousand million)

  2. two million

  3. 3.5 (three point five)

The whole system on one screen

You seeGermanEnglish
2.000.000 two million
1 Mrd. a billion
1 Bio. Billiona trillion
3,5 Komma three point five
2,50 € two fifty
1990neunzehnhundertneunzignineteen ninety
2020zweitausendzwanzigtwenty twenty
3.third

Million and Milliarde: numbers that are nouns

From a million up, numbers are feminine nouns: capitalised, written apart, and with a plural.

femininechangesWhat do the colours mean?
SingularPluralEnglish
one, two million
one, three billion
  • Berlin . - Berlin has almost four million inhabitants.
  • . - That costs a million euros.

There is no of: a million people is . And the rest of the number is written apart: dreihunderttausend is 2,300,000.

The Billion trap

German uses the long scale, which Britain itself used until the 1970s. Each new name is a thousand times the last:

FigureGermanEnglish
1,000,000 a million
1,000,000,000 a billion
10 to the 12 Billiona trillion

Staat . - The state is spending ten billion euros. Translate Billion as billion and you have made a figure a thousand times too big.

Commas and points

German swaps them. The decimal marker is a comma, read Komma; thousands are split by a point or a thin space.

WrittenRead asEnglish
3,5 Komma three point five
0,7 Komma nought point seven
1.000a thousand

So 1.000 is a thousand, not one point nought, and 1,5 Kilo is one and a half : anderthalb . - I need one and a half .

Prices: the currency in the middle

German says the currency between the euros and the cents, and counts money with no plural:

WrittenSaidEnglish
2,50 € two fifty
10 € ten
0,80 € eighty cents

. - That costs two euros fifty. The comma is not read aloud in a price, and Euros is wrong: and stay singular after a number. The words for paying are in ordering in German.

Years: hundreds, then thousands

Years from 1100 to 1999 are said in hundreds, and German keeps the word that English drops: 1990 is nineteen-hundred-ninety, with no . From 2000 they are plain numbers:

YearGermanEnglish
1990neunzehnhundertneunzignineteen ninety
1848achtzehnhundertachtundvierzigeighteen forty-eight
2001zweitausendeinstwo thousand and one
2020zweitausendzwanzigtwenty twenty

German puts no in in front of a bare year. Say the year alone, or use :

  • 1990 . - I was born in 1990.
  • 2020 . - In 2020 everything was different.

Ordinals: erste, zweite, dritte

Ordinals add -te up to 19 and -ste from 20. A longer number ending in 1 to 19 takes that number's ending: 102. is hundertzweite, 103. hundertdritte. The highlighter marks the ending.

NumberOrdinalRule
2.-te
4.vierte-te
19.neunzehnte-te
20.zwanzigste-ste from 20
100.hundertste-ste

Four are irregular:

NumberOrdinalInstead of
1. + te
3. + te
7.siebte + te
8.achte + te, with one t

You will also meet siebente, which is correct but old-fashioned. Ordinals take adjective endings, so the ending changes after :

  • . - Today is the first of May.
  • . - I am coming on the third of May.

In writing, a dot after the digit marks the ordinal: 3. . Dates in full are in German days, months and dates, and the endings in German adjective endings.

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
Billion for billiona Billion is a trillion
Million Million is a noun with a plural
3.53,5German decimals use a comma
Euros no plural when counting money
in 19901990, 1990no in before a bare year
dreiteone of four irregular ordinals

What to do next

  1. Read three German news headlines with and convert them to English billions.
  2. Say today's prices aloud: .
  3. Say your birth year in German, with no in.

Practise: test yourself

Pick the right one

0/5

Pick the German that means the same.

  1. a billion (a thousand million)

  2. two million

  3. 3.5 (three point five)

  4. €2.50

  5. 1990

Sort into groups

0/7

Does the ordinal end in -te or -ste?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Build the word

0/4

Build the ordinal: the number, then the ending.

  1. 4th

    Umlauts count - ae, oe, ue and ss work for ä, ö, ü, ß

    Your word is empty.

  2. 20th

    Umlauts count - ae, oe, ue and ss work for ä, ö, ü, ß

    Your word is empty.

  3. 7th

    Umlauts count - ae, oe, ue and ss work for ä, ö, ü, ß

    Your word is empty.

  4. 21st

    Umlauts count - ae, oe, ue and ss work for ä, ö, ü, ß

    Your word is empty.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Each sentence has one mistake. Tap it.

Matching

0/4

Match each German number to its figure.

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Frequently asked questions

What is a billion in German?
An English billion, a thousand million, is . The German Billion is a million million, what English calls a trillion. German uses the long scale, which Britain itself used until the 1970s, so every German budget story in means English billions.
Is Million capitalised in German?
Yes. From a million up, the numbers are feminine nouns with a plural: , , , . Because they are nouns they are written apart from the rest of the number: dreihunderttausend is 2,300,000.
How do you say years in German?
Years from 1100 to 1999 are said in hundreds: 1990 is neunzehnhundertneunzig, nineteen hundred ninety, with no . From 2000 they are said as a plain number: 2020 is zweitausendzwanzig. For in 2020, say 2020 on its own or 2020, never in 2020.
How do you say prices in German?
The currency word goes in the middle: 2,50 € is . Euro and Cent do not take a plural when you count money, so ten euros is . The decimal comma is not read aloud in a price.
How do you make ordinal numbers in German?
Add -te up to 19 (, vierte, zehnte) and -ste from 20 (zwanzigste, hundertste). A longer number ending in 1 to 19 takes that number's ending: 102. is hundertzweite. Four are irregular: , , siebte and achte. In writing, a dot after the digit marks an ordinal: 3. is read .