13 in German
Nearby German Numbers
13 in Other Languages
About 13 in German
When speaking German, 13 is expressed as dreizehn. The ordinal form — used for rankings, dates, and sequences — is dreizehnte.
13 is not divisible by two, and has no divisors other than 1 and itself. Knowing how to say 13 in German is useful in everyday situations such as prices, addresses, ages, dates, phone numbers, and telling the time.
Learning 13 in German is a step toward real communicative confidence. Numbers are unavoidable — they appear in every aspect of daily life, from prices and timetables to addresses and phone calls.
Learning Numbers in German
What makes German numbers challenging
The ones-before-tens inversion means hearing "sechsundfünfzig" (56) and needing to not write 65 — the first digit you hear is actually the last digit of the number. Long compound numbers written as single words (dreihundertsechsundfünfzig = 356) can look intimidating on paper. In phone contexts, the "zwei" vs "drei" confusion led to the convention of saying "zwo" for 2, which learners might not expect. German area codes vary from 2 to 5 digits, making number structure unpredictable.
Tips for learning German numbers
Train yourself to hold the first digit you hear and wait for the tens place. Write numbers as you hear them: jot the ones digit, leave a space, then fill in the tens when you hear it. Learn "zwo" as the phone-standard for 2 early on. Practice with German radio or podcast ads that include phone numbers. German number words are long but completely regular — once you know the pattern, even large numbers are just combination.