A1 · 40 words
Numbers, time and dates in German
Numbers said back to front, a clock counted forwards to the next hour, and the days of the week.
Two things here work differently enough to be worth warning about before the list starts. German says two-digit numbers back to front: einundzwanzig is "one-and-twenty", and it is written as one word. English did the same until a few centuries ago — "four and twenty blackbirds" — so the pattern is not foreign, only retired. And the clock counts towards the coming hour rather than away from the last one. Halb drei is half past two, not half past three: it is half way to three. Getting this wrong costs an hour, which is why it is worth more attention than its two words suggest.
The words
Noun (17)
die Zahlnumber, figureNounA1
Plural: die Zahlen. "die Nummer" is a number identifying something — a house, a phone; "die Zahl" is a quantity.
die Uhrclock, watch; o'clockNounA1
Plural: die Uhren. Also the word for "o'clock": um drei Uhr.
die Uhrzeittime of dayNounA1
die StundehourNounA1
Plural: die Stunden. A period of sixty minutes — not the time on the clock, which is "Uhr".
die MinuteminuteNounA1
Plural: die Minuten.
das ViertelquarterNounA1
Plural: die Viertel. Also means a district of a town.
der TagdayNounA1
Plural: die Tage.
die WocheweekNounA1
Plural: die Wochen.
der MonatmonthNounA1
Plural: die Monate.
das JahryearNounA1
Plural: die Jahre.
der MontagMondayNounA1
All days of the week are masculine. "on Monday" is "am Montag".
der DienstagTuesdayNounA1
der MittwochWednesdayNounA1
Literally "mid-week" — the only day not named after a god or a planet.
der DonnerstagThursdayNounA1
der FreitagFridayNounA1
der SamstagSaturdayNounA1
In northern Germany you will also hear "Sonnabend".
der SonntagSundayNounA1
Adjective (3)
halbhalfAdjectiveA1
Counts towards the coming hour: "halb drei" is half way to three, so half past two.
frühearlyAdjectiveA1
Comparative: früher, which also means "in the past".
spätlateAdjectiveA1
Comparative: später. "zu spät" is late in the sense of not punctual.
Adverb (4)
heutetodayAdverbA1
morgentomorrowAdverbA1
Not to be confused with "der Morgen", the morning. "morgen früh" is tomorrow morning.
gesternyesterdayAdverbA1
jetztnowAdverbA1
Numeral (16)
einsoneNumeralA1
The counting form. In front of a noun it becomes "ein" and takes endings: ein Buch, eine Tasse.
zweitwoNumeralA1
dreithreeNumeralA1
vierfourNumeralA1
fünffiveNumeralA1
sechssixNumeralA1
siebensevenNumeralA1
achteightNumeralA1
neunnineNumeralA1
zehntenNumeralA1
elfelevenNumeralA1
zwölftwelveNumeralA1
zwanzigtwentyNumeralA1
einundzwanzigtwenty-oneNumeralA1
Units before tens, joined with "und", written as one word. This holds for every two-digit number up to 99.
hunderthundredNumeralA1
German says "hundert", not "ein hundert".
tausendthousandNumeralA1
This list belongs to Basic words: numbers, time, verbs — 16 lists and 702 words that can also be practised as a whole.
Practise this list
From these 40 words, as many per round as you like — up to all of them: first what is due today, then new ones. First you choose, then you fill the gap, then you write it yourself. Mistakes come back again shortly.