Short answer: How do you say 1 to 10 in German? Eins (1), zwei (2), drei (3), vier (4), fünf (5), sechs (6), sieben (7), acht (8), neun (9), zehn (10). That is the whole list, and it is the first thing every German learner memorises, because these ten words are the building blocks for every larger number in the language. Say them out loud a few times and you already have the foundation: thirteen is drei plus zehn, twenty one is ein und zwanzig, and your phone number is just these words in a row. This guide gives you the list with pronunciation, the three sound rules that trip up English speakers, the eins or ein trap that catches almost every beginner, and the zwo mystery that confuses learners the first time they hear it on the phone.

German numbers 1 to 10 are single words that do not follow a pattern, so there is no shortcut around memorising them. The good news is that there are only ten of them, and once you know them you can count to 99 with two small rules. The Goethe-Institut A1 wordlist, the official vocabulary list for the beginner level, includes all ten, which tells you how basic they are: no German course starts anywhere else. Learn them in chunks of three, say each one out loud as you read, and test yourself by counting real things around you before you move on.

How to say 1 to 10 in German: the full list

Here is the complete list, with a plain English pronunciation guide for each word. The pronunciation spellings below are approximations for English speakers, and they match the guides published by Berlitz, Preply and Rosetta Stone. Listen to a native speaker for the exact sounds when you can, especially for fünf and neun, where the vowel has no English equivalent.

Number	German	Sounds like	Memory hook
1	eins	eyens, rhymes with lines	One line, eins sounds like lines
2	zwei	tsvy, like the end of cats plus vy	Two starts with a ts, like cats
3	drei	dry	Three sounds like dry
4	vier	feer	Four, with an f, not a v
5	fünf	fuunf, lips rounded as if saying ee	Five fingers, fünf with rounded lips
6	sechs	zeks	Six ends in ks, sechs ends in ks
7	sieben	zee-ben	Seven, zee-ben, two beats
8	acht	akht, with a throaty ch	Eight, akht, the ch is a cough, not a k
9	neun	noyn	Nine, noyn, rhymes with coin
10	zehn	tsayn	Ten starts with ts, like zwei

Read the list top to bottom three times, then cover the German column and try to say each word from the number alone. Then cover the number column and try to name each German word. If you can do both without peeking, you know the list. If drei and zwei keep swapping places in your head, you are not alone: they are the pair that causes the most confusion, and there is a section below on exactly why Germans themselves sometimes dodge the problem.

How to pronounce German numbers 1 to 10

Three sound rules cover almost every pronunciation mistake English speakers make with these ten words. Learn the rules once and they pay off across the whole language, not just with numbers.

First, German z sounds like ts. Zwei starts with the ts sound at the end of the English word cats, and zehn starts the same way. English speakers who say zvee and zen are saying different words to a German ear. Practise by saying cats, then cats-vy, then zwei. Sechs works differently: its first letter is a soft z sound, and the letters chs together sound like ks, so sechs sounds like zeks, almost exactly like the English word six.

Second, German v sounds like f. Vier is pronounced feer, not veer. This is the single most common error, and it is also the easiest to fix, because the rule never changes: in German, the letter v is always an f sound. The letter w, by contrast, is a v sound, which is why zwei is tsvy and not zwhy. If you remember that v and w have swapped jobs compared with English, you have the rule.

Third, the vowel in fünf has no English equivalent. The ü is made by shaping your mouth to say ee while rounding your lips as if to say oo. Say ee, keep the tongue where it is, round your lips, and the sound that comes out is ü. Fünf is the only word in the 1 to 10 list that needs it, which makes it a good place to practise. Neun has its own trick: the eu sounds like the oy in coin, so neun sounds like noyn.

The ei in eins, drei and zehn is the sound of the English word eye, and the ie in vier and sieben is a long ee sound. Acht has the throaty ch that English does not have: it is the sound at the back of the throat in the Scottish word loch, softened. Do not worry if your ch is rough at first. Germans understand acht with a k sound, but the throaty version marks you out as someone who is paying attention.

Is it eins or ein? The rule every beginner gets wrong

Here is the trap. When you count, or when the number stands on its own, 1 is eins: eins, zwei, drei, and Es ist eins, it is one o’clock, with no other word after it. But as soon as a noun follows, the s drops off and eins becomes ein. One o’clock with the word for o’clock is ein Uhr, never eins Uhr. One euro is ein Euro. One book is ein Buch. One hundred is einhundert, and twenty one is einundzwanzig, with the same ein inside it.

The reason is simple once you see it. Eins is the counting word. Ein is the same word doing the job of the English a or an, and like a and an it sits in front of a noun. Every grammar guide that covers telling the time in German flags this as the classic beginner mistake, and the fix is one sentence: if a noun follows, drop the s.

It works the other way too. If you say Es ist ein Uhr and then drop the word Uhr, the s comes back: Es ist eins. The same pattern shows up with the other numbers only in the sense that they never change: zwei Tische is two tables, drei Euro is three euros, zehn Minuten is ten minutes. Only one is special, because only one doubles as the word a.

What is zwo? Why Germans sometimes say two differently

Sooner or later you will hear a German say zwo instead of zwei, usually on the phone or in a noisy place. Zwo means two. It is the same number, not a different one, and it exists for one practical reason: zwei and drei sound similar, especially over a bad connection, and confusing two and three is the kind of mistake that matters when you are reading out a phone number or an address.

Duden, the standard German dictionary, lists zwo as a recognised variant of zwei, and Collins German grammar notes that zwo often replaces zwei in speech to distinguish it clearly from drei. Wiktionary traces it to the old feminine form of the word for two, but today it carries no gender meaning at all. It is used chiefly in southern Germany and Austria in everyday speech, and everywhere in Germany on the telephone and in military and aviation contexts, for the same reason English speakers say niner instead of nine.

Should you use zwo yourself? As a beginner, no. Learn zwei, use zwei, and simply recognise zwo when you hear it. If a German reads you a phone number and says zwo, write down 2. That is the whole skill. It is a listening point, not a speaking point, and it is exactly the kind of detail that turns a confusing phone call into an easy one.

How to use German numbers 1 to 10 in real sentences

Numbers only stick when you use them, and these ten words turn up in the first sentences every learner needs. Here are the situations where they appear first.

Counting things. German numbers do not change before a noun, apart from the eins or ein rule above. Zwei Tische is two tables, drei Personen is three people, fünf Minuten is five minutes. You do not need to learn any endings for the numbers themselves at this level, which is one less thing to worry about.

Your age. Ich bin sieben Jahre alt means I am seven years old, and the pattern works for any age: Ich bin vierundzwanzig Jahre alt for twenty four. Note the word order: the number comes before Jahre alt, and there is no word for old in the way English uses it. Age is one of the first things learners say about themselves, so it is worth getting the numbers right here first.

The time. Es ist drei Uhr is three o’clock, Es ist zehn Uhr is ten o’clock, and Es ist ein Uhr is one o’clock, with the ein rule in action. Germans also use the 24 hour clock in formal settings, so a train at 19:00 is neunzehn Uhr, but the numbers 1 to 10 cover the everyday 12 hour clock completely.

Prices and quantities. Fünf Euro is five euros, zwei Kaffee, bitte is two coffees, please, and ein Bier, bitte is one beer, please, again with ein before the noun. Ordering food and drink is the fastest way to make the numbers automatic, because you say them out loud and get something back.

Phone numbers. Germans usually read phone numbers digit by digit, or in pairs, and that is where zwo appears. A number starting 0171 is read null, eins, sieben, eins, and if the speaker says zwo, they mean two. Practise by reading your own phone number out loud in German every morning. It takes thirty seconds and it is the single best drill for these ten words.

What comes after 10: the two rules that unlock 11 to 99

You do not need to memorise 11 to 99 as separate words, because German builds them from the ten words you have just learnt, plus two rules. Knowing what comes next also helps you remember 1 to 10, because you can see what they are for.

Rule one: 11 and 12 are special, 13 to 19 are unit plus ten. Eleven is elf and twelve is zwölf, and you simply have to memorise those two. Then thirteen is dreizehn, three plus ten, fourteen is vierzehn, fifteen is fünfzehn, sixteen is sechzehn, seventeen is siebzehn, note the dropped en, eighteen is achtzehn and nineteen is neunzehn. Every teen is the unit word plus zehn, and once you know 1 to 10 you already know the first half of every teen.

Rule two: from 21 upwards, the unit comes first. Twenty is zwanzig, and twenty one is einundzwanzig, literally one and twenty. Thirty is dreißig, forty is vierzig, and forty seven is siebenundvierzig, seven and forty. English used to do this too, which is why old poems say four and twenty blackbirds, but modern English says twenty four. German kept the old order, and it is the one structural surprise in the system. Say the small number first, add und, then the ten, and write it as one word.

There is also a first step into ordinals, the words for first, second and third, which you will meet in dates and rankings. First is erste, second is zweite, third is dritte, and the rest add te to the number: vierte, fünfte, sechste, siebte, achte, neunte, zehnte. The first of the month is der erste, and that is a phrase you will use constantly once you start reading German dates.

How to memorise German numbers 1 to 10 fast

Ten words is a small job, but the method still matters, because the goal is not to recognise the words on a page. It is to say them without thinking, which is a different skill. These four drills get you there in a few days.

Chunk them in threes. Learn eins, zwei, drei first, then vier, fünf, sechs, then sieben, acht, neun, zehn. Three is the size of a chunk your memory handles easily, and each chunk has its own rhythm. Say each chunk out loud ten times, then add the next one, then run the whole list.

Count real things. Count the stairs as you climb them, count the apples as you put them in a bag, count the minutes on the microwave. Numbers attached to real objects stick far better than numbers on a flashcard, because your brain stores them with a picture and a purpose.

Say your phone number every day. Read it digit by digit in German, out loud, once a morning. It forces you to produce the words from memory rather than recognise them, and it uses the exact skill, saying numbers aloud, that you need on the phone in Germany.

Test yourself backwards. Counting from ten down to one is harder than counting up, and that difficulty is useful: it proves you know the words rather than the sequence. If you can count down without hesitating, and you can answer what comes after sieben without counting up from eins, the list is yours.

One warning about apps: several German learning apps and courses teach the numbers with audio, and that is worth using, but do not let the app do the speaking for you. Tap the audio, repeat the word out loud immediately, then say it again from memory before you move on. Listening without speaking builds recognition, not recall, and recognition is not enough when someone asks you a question in German.

Common mistakes with German numbers 1 to 10

Saying eins Uhr. The most frequent error, and the one Germans notice first. One o’clock is ein Uhr, and the s only appears when no noun follows. Say ein Uhr ten times and the mistake disappears.

Pronouncing v as v. Vier is feer. Every v in German is an f, and every w is a v. If your vier sounds like the English word veer, you are speaking English sounds with German spelling.

Pronouncing z as z. Zwei is tsvy and zehn is tsayn. The German z is always ts, and getting this right changes how every German word with a z sounds, not just the numbers.

Mixing up zwei and drei. They rhyme in a beginner’s ear, and they sit next to each other in the list, which makes them easy to swap. The fix is to practise them as a pair: zwei, drei, zwei, drei, until the ts at the start of zwei and the dr at the start of drei feel different in your mouth.

Forgetting that sechs has a ks sound. Sechs is pronounced zeks: the letters chs together sound like ks, as in the English word six. English speakers often say secks with a hard k, which is understandable but wrong. Think of the ks in six and you are close.

Frequently asked questions

How do you say 1 to 10 in German?

1 to 10 in German is eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn. These ten words are the foundation of the German number system, and they are the first numbers in the Goethe-Institut A1 wordlist. Learn them in chunks of three and say each one out loud as you practise.

How do you pronounce eins, zwei and drei in German?

Eins sounds like eyens, zwei sounds like tsvy, and drei sounds like dry. The two rules to remember are that German z sounds like ts, as in the end of cats, and German ei sounds like the English word eye. Drei is the easiest of the three for English speakers, because it is almost identical to dry.

Is it eins or ein in German?

It is eins when the number stands alone, as in counting or Es ist eins, and ein when a noun follows, as in ein Uhr for one o’clock, ein Euro for one euro and ein Buch for one book. The s drops off because ein is doing the job of the English a or an. Only the number one changes like this.

What does zwo mean in German?

Zwo means two. It is a recognised variant of zwei, listed by Duden, used mainly on the telephone and in noisy places so that zwei cannot be confused with drei. You do not need to say zwo yourself as a beginner, but you should recognise it when you hear it, especially when someone reads out a phone number.

How do you count past 10 in German?

Eleven is elf and twelve is zwölf, then 13 to 19 are the unit plus zehn: dreizehn, vierzehn, fünfzehn, sechzehn, siebzehn, achtzehn, neunzehn. Twenty is zwanzig, and from 21 upwards the unit comes first: einundzwanzig is one and twenty, siebenundvierzig is seven and forty.

How can I memorise German numbers quickly?

Learn them in chunks of three, count real things around you, read your phone number out loud in German every morning, and test yourself by counting backwards from ten. Saying the words out loud matters more than reading them, because the goal is to produce them without thinking, not just to recognise them on a page.

Related reading

• 50 Basic German Words for Beginners
• Can I Learn A1 German in 2 Weeks?
• Can You Reach B1 German in 3 Months?
• Can I Reach C1 German in 1 Year?
• How Can I Prepare for the A1 German Exam?

Sources

• Berlitz, German Numbers: An Easy Guide on How to Count to 100: berlitz.com/blog/german-numbers
• Preply, German Numbers: Learn How to Count from 0-100 Now: preply.com/en/blog/german-numbers
• Rosetta Stone, Learn Numbers in German: Counting from 1-100 Made Easy: blog.rosettastone.com/numbers-in-german
• Collins German Easy Learning, How do you say numbers in German?: grammar.collinsdictionary.com/german-easy-learning/how-do-you-say-numbers-in-german
• Wiktionary, zwo: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zwo
• EveryLingua, Numbers, time and dates in German: everylingua.com/en/german/numbers-time-dates.html
• German with Antrim, eins vs eines vs ein: germanwithantrim.com/blog/eins-vs-eines-vs-ein