Dutch Numbers: Counting from 0 to a Million | A1 Dutch, Lesson 11

Welcome to lesson eleven of the A1 Dutch Grammar Course. In lesson ten you learned the Dutch articles de, het, and een. In this lesson, you are going to learn the Dutch numbers — the cardinal numbers. You already use numbers every day: to say how old you are, how many siblings you have, how much something costs, and how many minutes a train is delayed. Dutch numbers follow a clear pattern, and once you understand the structure, you can build any number you need. By the end of this lesson, you will know the numbers from zero to one thousand, how to form compound numbers, and one important rule about how nouns behave after a number.

De basisgetallen — 0 tot 20

Here are the numbers from zero to twenty. Most are straightforward: dertien is derived from drie, veertien from vier, vijftien from vijf, zestien from zes — you can hear the base number inside. But two numbers do not follow this pattern: elf for eleven, and twaalf for twelve. These two are especially important to memorize because they do not use the -tien pattern. Everything else builds on the base numbers you see here. Notice that the number one — één — carries an accent when written as a word, to distinguish it from the article een. When one is part of a compound number like eenentwintig, the accent is dropped.

21–100 — eenheid + en + tiental

For numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine, Dutch uses a simple compound pattern: unit first, then the connecting word en, then the ten. Vierendertig — four-and-thirty — is thirty-four in English. Zesenvijftig — six-and-fifty — is fifty-six. This is the opposite of English word order, so English speakers need to pay attention. The structure is always: small number first, then en, then the larger ten. One spelling detail to note: when the unit is twee or drie, the word gets a trema — two dots — over the e to prevent two identical vowels running together. So twenty-two becomes tweeëntwintig, and thirty-three becomes drieëndertig. The trema is a spelling sign that shows the vowels belong to separate syllables.

Grote getallen — 100 en meer

For hundreds, you simply put the number in front of honderd: tweehonderd is two hundred, vijfhonderd is five hundred. From there, you combine the parts into one long word. Honderdzesentwintig is one hundred and twenty-six. Tweehonderdvijftig is two hundred and fifty. For thousands, you put the number in front of duizend: vijfduizend is five thousand, tienduizend is ten thousand, honderdduizend is one hundred thousand. And for very large numbers: één miljoen is one million, één miljard is one billion. In daily life in the Netherlands, you will most often encounter numbers in the hundreds and thousands — for prices, addresses, population figures, and phone numbers.

Hoe schrijf je getallen?

Two conventions are important to know. First, how to write numbers as words or digits. In running text, small numbers are often written as words, especially in formal writing. Larger numbers are often written as digits, especially in practical contexts. Second — and this often surprises English speakers — the thousands separator in Dutch is a period, not a comma. So ten thousand is written as 10.000 with a period. And the decimal or amount separator is a comma: eighteen euros and ninety-four cents is written as €18,94. This is exactly the reverse of English usage. When you see a price or a large number in Dutch, remember: the period groups thousands, and the comma separates euros from cents.

Na een getal hoger dan 1: meervoud of enkelvoud?

When you use a number higher than one with a countable noun, most nouns take the plural form. Ik heb twee zussen — I have two sisters. Hij koopt twaalf appels — He buys twelve apples. Zij hebben vijf kinderen — They have five children. But some common unit words stay singular after a number higher than one — and they are the ones you use most often with numbers: euro, uur, jaar, kilo, gram, meter, and kilometer. Dat kost vijf euro — not euros, but euro. Ik wacht twee uur — two hours, but the Dutch is two hour. Zij is twintig jaar — she is twenty year old, not jaren. These patterns are used so often with numbers that they become automatic with practice.

Wat heb je geleerd?

Here is what you learned in this lesson. Dutch numbers fall into three groups: zero to twenty, which you must memorize; twenty-one to ninety-nine, which follow the unit-en-ten compound pattern; and one hundred and above, which combine honderd, duizend, miljoen, and miljard. Two writing conventions are different from English: Dutch uses a period to separate thousands and a comma for decimals. And when you use a number higher than one with a countable noun, most nouns take the plural form — but amounts, time, weight, and distance stay singular: vijf euro, twee uur, drie jaar, tien kilometer. In lesson twelve, you will use these numbers in a practical context: talking about dates and time.

Practice What You Learned

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