Number DigitGerman number words
Number to German Words Converter
Write numbers in standard German with joined compound words, umlauts and long-scale names. The interface and explanations are in English.
Enter a number to see its German spelling. A nonnegative whole number opens its own reference page.
How German number words work
Ones before tens
In 23, the ones come first: drei + und + zwanzig becomes dreiundzwanzig. For 21, use einundzwanzig, not einsundzwanzig. The result is one word.
Spelling exceptions and special letters
Watch sechzehn, siebzehn, sechzig and siebzig: the stems are shortened. Thirty is dreißig. The output preserves ä, ö, ü and ß. This is German spelling as used in Germany, not the Swiss ss convention.
Hundreds, thousands and large nouns
This converter chooses explicit einhundert and eintausend. The shorter forms hundert and tausend are also used. Values below a million are joined into one lowercase word. Million, Milliarde and Billion are capitalized nouns with spaces: eine Million, zwei Millionen.
Negatives, decimals and input format
Negative values start with minus. Decimal digits are read individually after Komma, so 12,05 becomes zwölf Komma null fünf. Zeros are preserved and no rounding is applied. In this tool both comma and point are decimal marks; use spaces rather than points to group thousands.
Supported context
The answer is a standalone cardinal. It does not add currency units or choose ordinal, year, case-specific or noun-specific forms. German uses the long scale: a Milliarde is 10⁹ and a Billion is 10¹².
Questions and answers
Does 1.234 mean one thousand two hundred thirty-four?
Not in this input format. A point or comma is decimal, so 1.234 means one point two three four. Enter 1 234 or 1234 for the whole number.
Why is 21 written einundzwanzig?
German puts the ones before the tens: ein + und + zwanzig. The parts form a single word.
What range does the converter support?
The whole-number part supports up to 999,999,999,999,999. You can add a minus sign and up to 12 decimal digits, which are read individually after Komma without rounding.
Can I use this for years, currency or inflected noun phrases?
This converter provides standalone cardinal numbers. It does not select special year readings, add currency units or generate ordinal and noun-specific inflected forms.
Method and sources
A fixed vocabulary and deterministic composition rules generate the words. Input digits are handled as text, without floating-point rounding. The references explain spelling; they do not certify this converter.