Dutch numbers: why 21 is eenentwintig, and other surprises

The first time someone tells you a phone number or a price in Dutch, it can feel like they're reading it backwards. They kind of are. Dutch says 21 as "one-and-twenty": eenentwintig. Once you know the pattern, Dutch numbers are actually very regular. It just takes some practice before your brain stops swapping the digits.

The core rule

From 21 to 99, Dutch puts the ones first, then en (and), then the tens. All written as one word.

eenentwintig

21: een (one) + en (and) + twintig (twenty)

zevenenveertig

47: zeven (seven) + en (and) + veertig (forty)

That's the big one. Everything else is mostly vocabulary.

0 to 20

These you just learn.

Watch out for dertien (13) and veertien (14). It's not drietien or viertien. The vowel changes. Achttien (18) has a double t: acht plus tien.

The tens

Two to watch: veertig (40), not viertig, same vowel change as veertien. And tachtig (80), which starts with a t for no obvious reason. It's not achtig. Everyone gets that one wrong at first.

Worked examples

Example 1: the numbers in between

Ik ben vierendertig.

I'm thirty-four.

Ons huisnummer is zesenvijftig.

Our house number is fifty-six.

Four-and-thirty. Six-and-fifty. Say the small number first, then the tens.

Example 2: two dots over the e

When the first number ends in e, like twee or drie, you add two dots over the e of en. This is called a trema. It tells you to pronounce the e separately.

tweeëntwintig

22

drieënveertig

43

Without the trema, tweeen would be hard to read. With it, you can see where one part stops and the next begins.

Example 3: hundreds

For 100, just say honderd. Not een honderd.

honderdvijfentwintig

125

driehonderdzestig

360

The hundreds come first, then the ones-and-tens part. So 125 is honderd + vijfentwintig.

Example 4: thousands and more

duizend

1,000

tweeduizend vijfhonderd

2,500

een miljoen

1,000,000

For years, Dutch often counts in hundreds, like English does. 1984 is negentienhonderdvierentachtig: nineteen hundred four-and-eighty. From 2000 onward, it's tweeduizend: 2026 is tweeduizend zesentwintig.

In practice, you'll almost always write big numbers as digits. You mainly need to understand them when you hear them.

Example 5: money

Dat kost twee euro vijftig.

That costs two euros fifty.

Notice euro, not euros. After a number, many words for amounts and measurements stay singular: twee euro, drie kilo, vijf jaar (five years), twee uur (two hours). Not all of them, though. It's twee weken (two weeks) and drie maanden (three months).

Dutch ordinal numbers: first, second, third

Ordinals are the "first, second, third" numbers. Dutch adds -de or -ste.

The pattern: 2 to 19 get -de, except 8, which gets -ste (achtste). Eerste (first) also ends in -ste. From 20 to 100, it's -ste. Above 100, the last part decides: honderdtwintigste (120th), but honderdtweede (102nd).

In writing, you'll see ordinals shortened as 1e, 2e, 21e, or sometimes 1ste and 2de.

Ik woon op de derde verdieping.

I live on the third floor.

Het is mijn eerste keer in Rotterdam.

It's my first time in Rotterdam.

Where English speakers go wrong

Common mistake: saying the tens first. Your English brain wants twintig een for 21. It's eenentwintig. When you hear a number, the digit you hear first is the one on the right.

Common mistake: writing down the wrong number. This one is sneaky. Someone says zesentachtig (86), and you write 68, because you heard zes first. It happens with phone numbers, prices and house numbers. Slow down and write the second digit first if it helps.

Common mistake: miljard and biljoen. A Dutch miljard is an English "billion" (1,000,000,000). A Dutch biljoen is an English "trillion." So if a Dutch news article says een biljoen, it's a thousand times more than you might think.

Common mistake: using ordinals in dates. English says "the 5th of May." Dutch uses normal numbers in dates.

Mijn verjaardag is op vijf mei.

My birthday is on the fifth of May.

Not vijfde mei. Just vijf mei.

Edge cases worth knowing

Heads up: een and één look almost the same. Een without accents is "a" or "an." Eén with accents is the number one, pronounced like "ayn." You add the accents when it might be unclear which one you mean: Ik heb één broer (I have one brother).

Heads up: Dutch uses a comma for decimals and a dot for thousands, the opposite of English. 3,5 is three and a half, said as drie komma vijf. 1.000 is one thousand. Watch out for this on price tags and bank statements.

Worth knowing: met z'n tweeën means "the two of us" or "the two of them." Met z'n drieën, "the three of us." You'll hear this a lot when booking a table: We zijn met z'n vieren (There are four of us).

Worth knowing: when you use a number without a noun, Dutch often needs the word er. Hoeveel kinderen heb je? Ik heb er twee. (How many children do you have? I have two.) Leaving out er sounds unfinished. That use of er is a separate topic, so don't worry about it yet. Just remember ik heb er twee as a phrase.

Exception: telling the time in Dutch is its own system. Half drie means 2:30, not 3:30. Dutch counts the half hour toward the next hour. It's worth a separate article, so this piece doesn't cover it.

Putting it together

1. From 21 to 99: ones, then en, then tens, as one word: eenentwintig.
2. Watch the odd ones: dertien, veertien, veertig, tachtig.
3. Add a trema after twee and drie: tweeëntwintig, drieënveertig.
4. 100 is honderd, not een honderd.
5. Miljard is billion. Biljoen is trillion.
6. Ordinals: -de for 2 to 19, -ste for 1, 8 and 20 to 100.
7. Dates use normal numbers: vijf mei, not vijfde mei.

Go practice this

Read every number you see out loud in Dutch for a day. House numbers, prices at the supermarket, the time on your phone, the platform at the station. It feels silly, but it's the fastest way to stop translating in your head.

Then try it the other way around. Put on the Dutch news or a Dutch podcast and write down every number you hear. You'll probably swap some digits the first time. That's exactly the mistake you want to catch while practising, not while someone's telling you their phone number.

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