Welcome to Lesson 4 of your German A1 journey! In this lesson, we will tackle the fundamental building blocks of organization and time: numbers, the days of the week, and the months of the year. Mastering these allows you to make appointments, talk about your birthday, and navigate basic transactions like shopping or giving your phone number.
Let's start with the cardinal numbers 0 through 12. These are the most essential numbers because they form the basis for all higher numbers. Note that German pronunciation is quite phonetic, but you must pay attention to the "ei" sound (which sounds like "eye") and the "ie" sound (which sounds like "ee").
| Number | German Word | Phonetic | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | null | (nool) | zero |
| 1 | eins | (eyens) | one |
| 2 | zwei | (tsvy) | two |
| 3 | drei | (dry) | three |
| 4 | vier | (feer) | four |
| 5 | fünf | (fuenf) | five |
| 6 | sechs | (zeks) | six |
| 7 | sieben | (zee-ben) | seven |
| 8 | acht | (akht) | eight |
| 9 | neun | (noyn) | nine |
| 10 | zehn | (tsane) | ten |
| 11 | elf | (elf) | eleven |
| 12 | zwölf | (tsveulf) | twelve |
When moving into the teens (13–19), German uses a very logical pattern. You simply take the unit digit and add the word for ten, which is [[pronounce:zehn:de]] . For example, 13 is "three-ten." However, be careful with 16 and 17, as they undergo slight spelling changes for easier pronunciation.
[[pronounce:dreizehn:de]] (13), [[pronounce:vierzehn:de]] (14), [[pronounce:fünfzehn:de]] (15), [[pronounce:sechzehn:de]] (16 - note the missing 's' from sechs), [[pronounce:siebzehn:de]] (17 - note the missing 'en' from sieben).
The tens (20, 30, 40, etc.) usually end in the suffix -zig. A critical rule for numbers 21 through 99 is that the units come before the tens, connected by the word "und" (and). For instance, 21 is literally "one and twenty."
| Tens | German Word | Phonetic | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | zwanzig | (tsvan-tsig) | twenty |
| 30 | dreißig | (dry-sig) | thirty |
| 40 | vierzig | (feer-tsig) | forty |
| 50 | fünfzig | (fuenf-tsig) | fifty |
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Let's look at how to build a number like 45. You take the unit (5), add "und," and then the ten (40). [[pronounce:fünfundvierzig:de]] (fuenf-und-feer-tsig). This "backwards" logic can be confusing for English speakers at first, but it is consistent across the entire number system until you reach 100.
Now we move to the days of the week. In German, all days of the week are masculine nouns, meaning they all use the article "der." To say "on Monday" or "on Tuesday," we use the preposition "am," which is a contraction of "an dem."
| Day | German Word | Phonetic | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Montag | (mon-tahk) | Monday |
| Tuesday | Dienstag | (deens-tahk) | Tuesday |
| Wednesday | Mittwoch | (mit-vokh) | Wednesday |
| Thursday | Donnerstag | (don-ers-tahk) | Thursday |
| Friday | Freitag | (fry-tahk) | Friday |
| Saturday | Samstag | (zahms-tahk) | Saturday |
| Sunday | Sonntag | (zon-tahk) | Sunday |
A helpful mnemonic for "Mittwoch" is that "Mitte" means "middle" and "Woche" means "week." Literally, Wednesday is the "Mid-week." This is unlike English, where Wednesday is named after the god Woden.
Next, we explore the months. Like the days, months are masculine. When specifying a date, you use the preposition "im" (in the). For example, "im Januar" means "in January."
| Month | German Word | Phonetic | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Januar | (yan-oo-ahr) | January |
| February | Februar | (feb-roo-ahr) | February |
| March | März | (merts) | March |
| April | April | (ah-pril) | April |
| May | Mai | (my) | May |
| June | Juni | (yoo-nee) | June |
| July | Juli | (yoo-lee) | July |
| August | August | (ow-goost) | August |
| September | September | (zep-tem-ber) | September |
| October | Oktober | (ok-to-ber) | October |
| November | November | (no-vem-ber) | November |
| December | Dezember | (de-tsem-ber) | December |
To talk about time and dates, we use specific sentence structures. Here are a few common phrases you will use in daily conversation:
"Today is Monday": [[pronounce:Heute ist Montag:de]]
"My birthday is in May": [[pronounce:Mein Geburtstag ist im Mai:de]]
"We have an appointment on Friday": [[pronounce:Wir haben am Freitag einen Termin:de]]
Let's practice with a short dialogue. Imagine two colleagues, Anna and Ben, discussing a meeting date.
Anna: [[pronounce:Hast du am Mittwoch Zeit?:de]] (Do you have time on Wednesday?)
Ben: [[pronounce:Nein, am Mittwoch kann ich nicht. Aber am Donnerstag geht es.:de]] (No, I cannot on Wednesday. But Thursday works.)
Anna: [[pronounce:Super, dann sehen wir uns am Donnerstag!:de]] (Great, then we'll see each other on Thursday!)
Cultural Note: In Germany, punctuality is highly valued. If you make an appointment (einen Termin) for a specific day and time, arriving exactly on time—or even two minutes early—is the norm. Being "fashionably late" is generally not appreciated in professional or formal settings.
To wrap up, remember that numbers, days, and months are the skeleton of your schedule. Whenever you see "am" before a day or "im" before a month, you are specifying a point in time. Keep practicing the "units-then-tens" logic for numbers, and you will be counting like a native in no time!
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