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How to read and speak dates, decimals, monatery 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.)
Monatery 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 Euro 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.)
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