Chapter 4

Getting Numbers, Time, andMeasurements Straight

In This Chapter

Naming numbers and counting

Tackling time and the days of the week

Managing months and calendars

Getting a handle on metric measurements

How much does that Mercedes cost? What time do you close? When did you move to Augsburg? How much cheese do I need to make fondue for four people? Knowing how to ask such questions in German is half the battle of communicating effectively. But understanding the answers makes you a major league player. In this chapter, you get up to speed with using numbers, dates, time, and measurements.

Juggling Numbers

Chances are you’ll encounter German numbers in all kinds of situations: when you’re trying to decipher prices, for example, or street numbers, departure times, exchange rates, and so on. Knowing the following numbers makes counting anything easy (for money matters, such as changing currency and accessing funds, see Chapter 14):

0 null (nool)

1 eins (ayns)

2 zwei (tsvay)

3 drei (dray)

4 vier (feer)

5 fünf (fuenf)

6 sechs (zêks)

7 sieben (zee-ben)

8 acht (âHt)

9 neun (noyn)

10 zehn (tseyn)

11 elf (êlf)

12 zwölf (tsverlf)

13 dreizehn (dray-tseyn)

14 vierzehn (feer-tseyn)

15 fünfzehn (fuenf-tseyn)

16 sechzehn (zêH-tseyn)

17 siebzehn (zeep-tseyn)

18 achtzehn (âHt-tseyn)

19 neunzehn (noyn-tseyn)

20 zwanzig (tsvân-tsiH)

21 einundzwanzig (ayn-oont-tsvân-tsiH)

22 zweiundzwanzig (tsvay-oont-tsvân-tsiH)

23 dreiundzwanzig (dray-oont-tsvân-tsiH)

24 vierundzwanzig (feer-oont-tsvân-tsiH)

25 fünfundzwanzig (fuenf-oont-tsvân-tsiH)

30 dreißig (dray-siH)

40 vierzig (feer-tsiH)

50 fünfzig (fuenf-tsiH)

60 sechzig (zêH-tsiH)

70 siebzig (zeep-tsiH)

80 achtzig (âHt-tsiH)

90 neunzig (noyn-tsiH)

100 hundert (hoon-dert)

200 zweihundert (tsvay-hoon-dert)

300 dreihundert (dray-hoon-dert)

400 vierhundert (feer-hoon-dert)

500 fünfhundert (fuenf-hoon-dert)

1000 tausend (tou-zent)

Notice that, as words, the numbers between 21 and 25 in the preceding list appear to be backward. Take the number 21, einundzwanzig (ayn-oont-tsvân-tsiH), for example. In German, you actually say, “One and twenty.” Just remember to stick to this pattern for all the double-digit numbers, except for numbers in multiples of ten, like 30, 40, 50, and so on.

When describing one thing in a sentence, the number eins (ayns) (one) changes spelling. That’s because, in these situations, eins is working as an adjective, and in German, adjectives can go through all kinds of spelling changes in a sentence. (See Chapter 2 for more info on adjectives.) Look at this example:

Er hat einen großen Hund. (êr hât ayn-en grohs-en hoont.) (He has a large dog.)

Telling Time

Imagine you’re sitting in a park under a tree on a hot sunny day, wondering what time it is. Suddenly, a white rabbit in a checkered jacket runs by, stops, pulls out a pocket watch, and mumbles about being late. My advice: Don’t ask him what time it is. You’re better off reading the following information on asking about and telling time, German style.

German speakers have two systems for telling time: one using the numbers 1–12 on a standard clock and one using a 24-hour format. They use the 12-hour system in casual conversation and the 24-hour system when they want to avoid any chance of misunderstanding. They don’t use the a.m./p.m. system.

Asking for the time

Most people have at least one sort of device on them that tells the time. However, you should know the following two interchangeable phrases. With these, you can ask for the time just in case your devices fail you or you’re looking for a safe way to start up a conversation:

Wie viel Uhr ist es? (vee feel oohr ist ês?) (What time is it?)

Wie spät ist es? (vee shpait ist ês?) (What time is it?)

When approaching somebody to ask the time, you can, as usual, make the request a little more polite by adding the phrase Entschuldigen Sie, bitte (ênt-shool-di-gen zee, bi-te) (Excuse me, please) to the beginning of your question.

Telling time with the 12-hour clock

Many German speakers choose the 12-hour format when talking casually. This system is one you’re already familiar with: You use the numbers 1-12 on a standard clock. However, German doesn’t have the expressions a.m. and p.m., so German speakers revert to the 24-hour format to avoid potential misunderstandings, for example, when discussing schedules. (For more about the 24-hour system, head to the upcoming section.)

On the hour

At the top of the hour, telling the time is very easy. You just say

Es ist . . . Uhr. (ês ist . . . oohr.) (It’s . . . o’clock.)

Of course, you include the number of the appropriate hour before the word Uhr.

Before and after the hour

Indicating times like quarter past three, ten to eight, or half past eleven is a little more complicated, but you only need to know three key expressions.

To use the German word for quarter, you include Viertel (feer-tel) (quarter) plus the word nach (nâH) (past/after) or vor (fohr) (to/before) followed by the appropriate hour, as shown in these examples:

Es ist Viertel nach. . . . (ês ist feer-tel nâH. . . .) (It’s quarter past. . . .)

Es ist Viertel vor. . . . (ês ist feer-tel fohr. . . .) (It’s quarter to. . . .)

Expressing the half hour isn’t quite as straightforward. In German, the word halb (hâlp) (half) indicates half of the hour to come, rather than the past hour. You use the phrase Es ist halb. . . . (ês ist hâlp. . . .) (It’s half an hour before. . . .) followed by the appropriate hour. For example, when it’s 4:30, you say this:

Es ist halb fünf. (ês ist hâlp fuenf.) (It’s half an hour before 5:00.)

A few minutes before and after

When you need to break down the time in terms of minutes before or after the hour, you use nach (nâH) (past/after) and vor (fohr) (to/before), like this:

Es ist fünf Minuten vor zwölf. (ês ist fuenf mi-nooh-ten fohr tsverlf.) (It’s five minutes to twelve.)

Es ist zwanzig Minuten nach sechs. (ês ist tsvân-tsiH mi-nooh-ten nâH zêks.) (It’s twenty minutes past six.)

An alternative is to leave out the word Minuten in phrases such as those in the preceding list. For example, you can say Es ist fünf vor zwölf or Es ist fünf Minuten vor zwölf. Both phrases mean the same thing: It’s five [minutes] to twelve.

Using the 24-hour system

Just as the a.m./p.m. system prevents misunderstanding, so does the 24-hour system. This is the key reason why all kinds of businesses — banks, stores, airlines, theaters, museums, cinemas, and so forth — use the 24-hour system.

Here’s how this system works: After you reach 12, you keep on adding hours (13, 14, 15, and so on) until you get to 24 or Mitternacht (mit-er-nâHt) (midnight), which is also referred to as null Uhr (nool oohr) (literally: zero hour).

In this system of telling time, you don’t use phrases like “half past” or “a quarter to” (the hour.) Everything is expressed in terms of minutes after the hour. Note in the following examples how the hour comes first and then the minutes:

Es ist 15 Uhr dreißig. (ês ist fuenf-tseyn oohr dray-siH.) (It’s fifteen hours and thirty.) This corresponds to 3:30 p.m.

Es ist 21 Uhr fünfzehn. (ês ist ayn-oont-tsvân-tsiH oohr fuenf-tseyn.) (It’s twenty one hours and fifteen.) That’s 9:15 p.m.

Es ist 22 Uhr vierundvierzig. (ês ist tsvay-oont-tsvân-tsiH oohr feer-oont-feer-tsiH.) (It’s twenty two hours and forty-four.) You got it — 10:44 p.m.

Es ist null Uhr siebenundreißig. (ês ist nool oohr zee-ben-oont-dray-siH.) (It’s zero hours and thirty-seven.) That’s the early, early morning — 12:37 a.m!

Times of the day

When you want to describe a slice of the day, such as morning or afternoon, you have several options in German. However, take the following time periods with a grain of salt; they’re meant as guidelines. After all, night owls and early morning joggers have different ideas about when one part of the day starts and another ends.

der Morgen (dêr mor-gen) (morning; 4:00 a.m. to noon)

der Vormittag (dêr fohr-mi-tahk) (morning; 9:00 a.m. to noon)

der Mittag (dêr mi-tahk) (noon; 12 noon to 2:00 p.m.)

der Nachmitag (dêr nâH-mi-tahk) (afternoon; 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.)

der Abend (dêr ah-bent) (evening; 6:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.)

die Nacht (dee nâHt) (tonight; 12:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m.)

Days of the week

Looking at a German calendar, you find that the week, die Woche (dee woH-e), starts on a Monday. In addition, the days of the week are all the same gender, masculine (dêr), but generally they’re used without an article. For example, if you want to say that today is Monday, you say Heute ist Montag (hoy-te ist mohn-tahk).

Your basic days

Here are the days of the week followed by the abbreviations that you often see on schedules:

Montag (mohn-tahk) (Mo) (Monday)

Dienstag (deens-tahk) (Di) (Tuesday)

Mittwoch (mit-voH) (Mi) (Wednesday)

Donnerstag (don-ers-tahk) (Do) (Thursday)

Freitag (fray-tâk) (Fr) (Friday)

Samstag/Sonnabend (zâms-tahk/zon-ah-bênt) (Sa) (Saturday)

Sonntag (zon-tahk) (So) (Sunday)

In northern Germany, Saturday is called Sonnabend. People living in southern Germany, Austria, and German-speaking Switzerland use the term Samstag.

To indicate that something always happens on a particular day of the week, an s is added to the word, and it’s no longer capitalized. For example, you may get to a museum or a restaurant on a Monday and find it closed, in which case you’re likely to see a sign on the door reading montags geschlossen (mohn-tahks ge-shlos-en) (closed on Mondays).

Speaking of days . . .

Say it’s Tuesday, and you want to confirm that you’ve planned to meet someone the next day. You can ask whether you’re meeting on Wednesday, or you can ask whether the meeting is tomorrow. The following word list helps you refer to specific days:

heute (hoy-te) (today)

gestern (gês-tern) (yesterday)

vorgestern (fohr-gês-tern) (the day before yesterday)

morgen (mor-gen) (tomorrow)

übermorgen (ue-ber-mor-gen) (the day after tomorrow)

To speak precisely about a particular time on a specific day, you can combine the preceding words with the times of day discussed in the section “Times of the day” earlier in this chapter. Try the following examples on for size:

heute Morgen (hoy-te mor-gen) (this morning)

heute Vormittag (hoy-te fohr-mi-tahk) (this morning)

gestern Abend (gês-tern ah-bent) (yesterday evening/last night)

Naming the Months

The following list shows you all the names of the months — notice how similar the German names are to the English! All the months’ names are masculine, meaning that their article is der:

Januar (yâ-noo-ahr) (January)

Februar (fey-broo-ahr) (February)

März (mêrts) (March)

April (ah-pril) (April)

Mai (may) (May)

Juni (yooh-nee) (June)

Juli (yooh-lee) (July)

August (ou-goost) (August)

September (zêp-têm-ber) (September)

Oktober (ok-toh-ber) (October)

November (no-vêm-ber) (November)

Dezember (dey-tsêm-ber) (December)

The following sentences show you how to build the calendar, der Kalender (der kâ-lên-der), in German:

Ein Jahr hat 12 Monate. (ayn yahr hât tsverlf moh-nâ-te.) (A year has 12 months.)

Ein Monat hat 30 oder 31 Tage. (ayn moh-nât hât dray-siH oh-der ayn-oont-dray-siH tah-ge.) (A month has 30 or 31 days.)

Der Februar hat 28 oder 29 Tage. (dêr fey-broo-ahr hât âHt-oont-tsvân-tsiH oh-der noyn-oont-tsvân-tsiH tah-ge.) (February has 28 or 29 days.)

Eine Woche hat 7 Tage. (ayn-e voH-e hât zee-ben tah-ge.) (A week has seven days.)

Measurements, Quantities, and Weights

You use the metric system in German-speaking countries, as well as most other countries around the globe. The various metric units crop up in all sorts of everyday situations, so coming to grips with the various equivalents for units of length, weight, and capacity is definitely worth your time. For example, you buy milk in a Liter (lee-ter) (liter) quantity rather than a quart, speed limits are indicated in Kilometer (ki-lo-mey-ter) (kilometers) per hour (1 kilometer = 0.6 mile), and a roughly 2.2-pound sack of potatoes sells as a unit of 1 Kilo(gramm) (kee-loh-[gram]) (kilo[gram]). Note: German speakers refer to 1,000 grams as either Kilo or Kilogramm, and neither one has an s in the plural form.

Here’s what you need to know to buy something at a tantalizing open-air market. In fact, it’s just the same as ordering in a restaurant, which you can read about in Chapter 8. You say

Ich hätte gern. . . . (iH hêt-e gêrn. . . .) (I would like to have. . . .)

At the end of that phrase, simply say how much you want, which could include any of the following weights and measurements. Note that the plural forms for most of these measurements are the same as the singular form:

ein/zwei Kilo (ayn/tsvay kee-loh) (1 kilogram/2 kilograms) (1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds)

ein/zwei Pfund (ayn pfoont/tsvay pfoont) (1 pound/2 pounds) (1 metric pound = 500 grams) (In the U.S., a pound is 454 grams.)

ein/einhundert Gramm (ayn/ayn-hoon-dêrt grâm) (1/100 grams)

ein/zwei Stück (ayn/tsvay shtuek) (one piece/two pieces)

eine Scheibe/zwei Scheiben (ayn-e shay-be/tsvay shay-ben) (one slice/two slices)

To specify exactly what you want, simply add the appropriate word to the end of the whole phrase. For example, if you want one Kilo of apples, you say

Ich hätte gern ein Kilo Äpfel. (iH hêt-e gêrn ayn kee-loh êp-fel.) (I’d like to have one kilogram of apples.)

Talkin’ the Talk

Frau Bauer buys all her produce at the open air market. Today she needs apples and tomatoes. Looking at the various stands, she approaches one where she’s bought produce before and speaks to the saleswoman. (Track 11)
Verkäuferin:	Guten Tag. Was darf es sein? gooh-ten tahk. vâs dârf ês zayn? Hello. What would you like?
Frau Bauer:	Zwei Kilo Äpfel und ein Pfund Tomaten, bitte. tsvay kee-loh êp-fel oont ayn pfoont toh-mah-ten, bi-te. Two kilograms of apples and one pound of tomatoes, please.
Verkäuferin:	Sonst noch etwas? zonst noH êt-vâs? Anything else?
Frau Bauer:	Danke, das ist alles. dân-ke, dâs ist âl-ês. Thank you, that’s all.
Next, Frau Bauer goes to a stand that sells dairy products.
Frau Bauer:	Ich hätte gern etwas von dem Gouda. iH hêt-e gêrn êt-vâs fon deym gou-dâ. I’d like to have some Gouda.
Verkäuferin:	Wie viel hätten Sie denn gern? vee-feel hêt-en zee dên gêrn? How much would you like?
Frau Bauer:	Zweihundert Gramm, bitte. tsvay-hoon-dert grâm, bi-te. Two hundred grams, please.
Verkäuferin:	Sonst noch etwas? zonst noH êt-vâs? Anything else?
Frau Bauer:	Nein, danke. Das wär’s. nayn, dân-ke. dâs vêrs. No thank you. That’s it.

Fun & Games

Alois Hailer needs to update his electronic calendar. Last week, the technology failed him, so to be on the safe side, he’s writing out this week’s appointments. Write each day, time, and appointment out as words. The activities are numbered in the calendar, and the first activity on Monday has already been done.

1. Montag, acht Uhr, anrufen Herr Hegele

2. _________________________________________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________________________________________

4. _________________________________________________________________________________

5. _________________________________________________________________________________

6. _________________________________________________________________________________

7. _________________________________________________________________________________

8. _________________________________________________________________________________

9. _________________________________________________________________________________