Numbers and times come up in every appointment, phone call and price. Type the German words and the trainer checks them instantly.
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The numbers 0 to 12 have their own words: null, eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn, elf, zwölf. From 13 to 19 you add -zehn: dreizehn, vierzehn; note sechzehn and siebzehn (the -s and -en drop). The tens end in -zig: zwanzig, vierzig, fünfzig, with dreißig as the exception.
From 21 to 99 German says the unit first, then und, then the tens, all in one word: 21 = einundzwanzig, 47 = siebenundvierzig, 98 = achtundneunzig. This is the most common mistake for learners who speak English or Hindi, so practise until it is automatic: phone numbers, prices and house numbers depend on it.
Germany uses two systems. The official 24-hour time appears on train timetables, appointment letters and at work: 14:30 = vierzehn Uhr dreißig. In everyday speech people use the 12-hour clock: Viertel nach zwei (2:15), halb drei (2:30), Viertel vor drei (2:45).
Careful with halb: it means half to the next hour, not half past. Halb drei is 2:30, not 3:30. For 1:00 say ein Uhr, and for 1:30 halb zwei.
Numbers and times are covered in A1 lessons 2 and 10. Use this trainer for ten minutes a day until you can answer without thinking; it helps with every phone call and appointment in Germany. Say each answer out loud as well as typing it: on the phone you hear numbers and times much faster than you can read them, and practising aloud trains your ear for the unit-before-tens order and for the difference between halb drei and drei Uhr dreißig.
Einundzwanzig: the unit comes first (ein), then und, then the tens (zwanzig), written as one word.
2:30. Halb refers to the half hour before the next full hour, so halb drei is half an hour before three.
Yes, in writing, at work, on timetables and in appointments. In conversation the 12-hour forms with Viertel and halb are common.
