Dates and birthdays
You may be asked to state your date of birth - Wann hast du Geburtstag?
There are several ways to answer this question. Some of the answers sound a little unusual when translated into English, so choose the one which you find easiest.
If you are not sure how to form dates, you can check here.
To say when your birthday is, you need to use am (on the) and an in the dative case.
| Number | Ordinal numbers |
| eins | am ersten - on the first |
| zwei | am zweiten - on the second |
| drei | am dritten - on the third |
| vier | am vierten - on the fourth |
| fünf | am fünften - on the fifth |
| sechs | am sechsten - on the sixth |
| sieben | am siebten - on the seventh |
| acht | am achten - on the eighth |
| neun | am neunten - on the ninth |
| zehn | am zehnten - on the tenth |
| elf | am elften - on the 11th |
| zwölf | am zwölften - on the 12th |
| dreizehn | am dreizehnten - on the 13th |
| Number | eins |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am ersten - on the first |
| Number | zwei |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am zweiten - on the second |
| Number | drei |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am dritten - on the third |
| Number | vier |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am vierten - on the fourth |
| Number | fünf |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am fünften - on the fifth |
| Number | sechs |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am sechsten - on the sixth |
| Number | sieben |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am siebten - on the seventh |
| Number | acht |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am achten - on the eighth |
| Number | neun |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am neunten - on the ninth |
| Number | zehn |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am zehnten - on the tenth |
| Number | elf |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am elften - on the 11th |
| Number | zwölf |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am zwölften - on the 12th |
| Number | dreizehn |
|---|---|
| Ordinal numbers | am dreizehnten - on the 13th |
From first - 19th, you add -ten to the end of the number. You can see from the table above that first, third, seventh and eighth are irregular and behave a little differently from the others.
20th - 31st also follow the same pattern as one another, but add -sten to the end of the number, eg
- zwanzig > am zwanzigsten – on the 20th
- vierundzwanzig > am vierundzwanzigsten – on the 24th
- dreißig > am dreißigsten – on the 30th
Question
How would you say the following birthdays in German?
Give as many versions of each as you can.
- My birthday is on 1st February.
- My birthday is on 21st July.
- My birthday is on 3rd December.
Question
Work out the possible questions to the following answers. You should adapt the same language to talk about yourself.
