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How to read and speak dates, decimals, monetary information, and official time

Dates:

Divided by periods (US) / full stops (UK), dates are given in the order of day/month/year and read as ordinal numbers with the appropriate adjective endings. Note: It is standard practice in American English to write the date in m/d/order, while in British English and most other languages, when expressed in numerals the date is written in d/m/y order.

Examples:

  • Heute ist der 1. 5. 2002. [Heute ist der erste fünfte (/erste Mai/) zweitausednzwei]. (Today is May first, 2001.)
  • Sie ist am 12. 4. 1971 geboren [Sie ist am zwölften vierten (/zwölften April/) neunzehnhunderteinundsiebzig geboren].(She was born on April 12, 1971.)

Letters usually bear the date and location in the upper right corner:

  • München, den 18 .2. 2013 [München, den achzehnten zweiten zweitausenddreizehn]. (Munich, on February 18, 2013) 

Decimals

Unlike in Englsih, where decimals are indicated by a point (.), in German, decimals are indicated by a comma (,). Examples:

  • Diese Milch hat 2,1 [Zwei Komma Eins] Prozent Fettgehalt. (This milk has a fat content of 2.1 percent.)
  • Minnesota hat eine Arbeitslosenquote von 0,3 [Null Komma Drei] Prozent. (Minnesota has an unemployment rate of 0.3 percent.)

Monetary information and official time-telling

18,30 DM is read as Achzehn Mark dreißig or Achzehn Mark und dreißig Pfennig.

57,28 S is read as Siebenundfünfzig Schilling achtundzwanzig or Siebenundfünfzig Schilling und achtundzwanzig Groschen.

17, 08 FR is read as Siebzehn Franken und acht Rappen.

45,20 € is read as Fünfundvierzig Euro zwanzig.

Similarly, 19.25 Uhr is read as Neunzehn Uhr fünfundzwanzig.

Notes

  • DM is read either as D-Mark or Mark, never as Deutschmark.
  • While decimal numbers and monetary values are divided by a comma, expressions of official time are divided by a point.
  • It is quite common in spoken German to use the 24 hour time system. If 12 hour values are occasionally expressed for am/pm, 3pm becomes "Fünf Uhr nachmittags" (Five o'clock in the afternoon.) and 11pm becomes "Elf Uhr abends" (Eleven o'clock in the evening).