Once you can count to 100, building larger numbers in German is mostly mechanical — you stack hundreds, thousands and millions in front of the two-digit number you already know. But three things genuinely surprise English speakers: large numbers under a million are written as one enormous word, the decimal and thousands separators are swapped relative to English (a comma is the decimal point), and Milliarde and Billion are false friends that can cost you a factor of a thousand in a financial or news context. This page covers all three.
Hundreds: hundert and beyond
100 is hundert on its own, or einhundert when you want to be explicit (the ein- is optional and slightly more formal or careful). Multiples are formed by prefixing the unit: zwei + hundert = zweihundert (200), fünfhundert (500), neunhundert (900). To add a remainder, you simply tack on the rest of the number — and the units-before-tens reversal from the previous page applies to the last two digits:
hundred + (unit-und-ten) → hundertdreiundzwanzig = 123
| Number | German (one word) | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | (ein)hundert | ein- optional |
| 101 | hunderteins | also hundertundeins (und optional) |
| 123 | hundertdreiundzwanzig | hundert + drei-und-zwanzig |
| 256 | zweihundertsechsundfünfzig | 200 + 6-and-50 |
| 999 | neunhundertneunundneunzig | 900 + 9-and-90 |
Note that "one hundred and one" can be hunderteins or hundertundeins — the und before the final unit is optional and both are correct. Only the last two digits reverse; the hundreds stay in normal left-to-right order.
Der Roman hat dreihundertzweiundsiebzig Seiten.
The novel has three hundred and seventy-two pages.
Das kostet hundertfünfzig Euro.
That costs a hundred and fifty euros.
Thousands: tausend
Tausend (1,000) works identically: zweitausend (2,000), fünftausend (5,000), and you add the rest of the number on the end. Everything below a million is still written as a single solid word — which produces some impressively long strings, but Germans read and write them without blinking.
| Number | German (one word) |
|---|---|
| 1.000 | (ein)tausend |
| 2.024 | zweitausendvierundzwanzig |
| 5.300 | fünftausenddreihundert |
| 9.999 | neuntausendneunhundertneunundneunzig |
Die Wohnung kostet zweitausendvierhundert Euro im Monat.
The apartment costs two thousand four hundred euros a month.
Das Stadion fasst fünfundvierzigtausend Zuschauer.
The stadium holds forty-five thousand spectators.
The reversed separators: comma is the point
This is the trap that catches everyone. German swaps the two number-punctuation marks relative to English:
- The comma (Komma) is the decimal separator: 3,5 means "three point five".
- The point (Punkt) — or a thin space — is the thousands separator: 1.000 or 1 000 means one thousand.
So the string 1.000,50 that looks to an English eye like "one point zero zero zero comma five" actually means one thousand point five zero. You read the comma aloud as Komma: drei Komma fünf (3,5). This convention is shared across most of continental Europe; English (and the UK/US) is the outlier.
| Meaning | English writes | German writes |
|---|---|---|
| one thousand | 1,000 | 1.000 (or 1 000) |
| three point five | 3.5 | 3,5 |
| 1234.56 | 1,234.56 | 1.234,56 |
Der Liter kostet eins Komma neun fünf.
The litre costs 1,95 — one point nine five.
Die Temperatur fiel auf minus drei Komma zwei Grad.
The temperature dropped to minus three point two degrees (−3,2).
Millions and the billion false friend
From a million up, the words become separate, capitalized nouns (they are genuine nouns, not number-words glued on), and they take a plural:
- die Million (10⁶), plural Millionen
- die Milliarde (10⁹), plural Milliarden
- die Billion (10¹²), plural Billionen
Because they are nouns, "two million" is written as two words — zwei Millionen — and the noun pluralizes after any number above one. Eine Million (singular) but zwei Millionen (plural).
Now the high-stakes part. German has a number word between million and the English "billion": Milliarde. The scales line up like this:
| Power | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| 10⁶ | eine Million | one million ✓ (same) |
| 10⁹ | eine Milliarde | one billion |
| 10¹² | eine Billion | one trillion |
So German Billion does NOT mean billion — it means trillion (a million millions). The English "billion" is German Milliarde. This is the classic "long scale vs short scale" divide, and it is genuinely dangerous: a news headline about eine Milliarde Euro is a (US/UK) billion, while eine Billion Euro is a thousand times more — a trillion. Getting this wrong in finance, journalism, or budget reporting is a factor-of-1000 error.
Die Stadt hat fast vier Millionen Einwohner.
The city has almost four million inhabitants.
Der Konzern machte eine Milliarde Euro Gewinn.
The corporation made a billion euros in profit (10⁹ — German Milliarde).
Die Staatsverschuldung liegt bei über zwei Billionen Euro.
The national debt is over two trillion euros (10¹² — German Billion = English trillion).
Common Mistakes
❌ Der Konzern machte eine Billion Euro Gewinn. (meaning a US billion)
Incorrect — German Billion is a trillion, 1000× too big.
✅ Der Konzern machte eine Milliarde Euro Gewinn.
A (US) billion euros — use Milliarde, not Billion.
❌ Das kostet 1,000 Euro. (meaning a thousand)
Incorrect — the comma is the decimal point; this reads as 'one euro'.
✅ Das kostet 1.000 Euro.
A thousand euros — the dot is the thousands separator.
❌ Pi ist ungefähr 3.14.
Incorrect — German uses a comma for decimals.
✅ Pi ist ungefähr 3,14.
Pi is about 3,14 — read 'drei Komma eins vier'.
❌ zwei Million Menschen
Incorrect — Million is a noun and must pluralize after a number above one.
✅ zwei Millionen Menschen
Two million people — plural Millionen.
❌ zweiMillionendreihundert (one word with Million inside)
Incorrect — Million is a separate capitalized noun, not part of the number-word.
✅ zwei Millionen dreihundert
Millions and billions stand as separate, capitalized words.
Key Takeaways
- Numbers below a million are written as one solid word; Million, Milliarde, Billion are separate, capitalized, pluralizing nouns.
- The last two digits still reverse (units before tens) inside hundreds and thousands.
- German swaps the separators: comma = decimal point, dot/space = thousands.
- False friends: Milliarde = billion (10⁹), Billion = trillion (10¹²).
Now practice German
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Cardinal Numbers 21-100 (Units before Tens)A1 — German names the units digit before the tens digit and joins them with und in a single word — einundzwanzig is 'one-and-twenty' — plus the irregular tens dreißig, sechzig, and siebzig.
- Cardinal Numbers 0-20A1 — The German numbers null to zwanzig, including the irregular teens elf and zwölf, the dropped letters in sechzehn and siebzehn, and why the count eins becomes ein before a noun.
- Fractions, Decimals, and ArithmeticB1 — German fractions (das Drittel, drei Viertel), the decimal comma (3,5 = 'drei Komma fünf'), percentages, and how to read sums out loud.
- Pronouncing Numbers, Dates, and Spelling AloudA2 — Spoken German says the units before the tens (einundzwanzig = 'one-and-twenty'), uses zwo on the phone to avoid confusion with drei, and has its own spelling alphabet — the survival skills for phone numbers, prices, dates, and dictation.
- False Friends (Falsche Freunde)B1 — The highest-impact German-English false friends — words that look like English but mean something different — with the trap, the true meaning, and the word you actually wanted.