How is the day written in a German date?

The day is an ordinal number: vierter for the 4th, einundzwanzigster for the 21st. It uses the -te suffix up to 19 and -ste from 20, with the irregulars erster, dritter, siebter and achter. The tool shows the nominative -er form.

How are years before 2000 read in German?

Years from 1100 to 1999 are read in the hundreds pattern, so 1984 is neunzehnhundertvierundachtzig — literally nineteen-hundred-eighty-four. This is the traditional way German speaks years in that range.

How are years from 2000 onward read?

From the year 2000 they are read as a plain cardinal number: 2000 is zweitausend and 2026 is zweitausendsechsundzwanzig. The hundreds pattern is no longer used in this range.

Does the day ending change in a sentence?

Yes. Because the day is an adjective-like ordinal, its ending shifts with case. The tool gives the nominative vierter, but in a sentence you would say am vierten Juni (dative) or des vierten Juni (genitive).

Is the date converted on my device?

Yes. The conversion happens entirely in your browser, so the date you choose is never sent to a server.

German Date in Words

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Spelling a date out in full is common in German letters, certificates, contracts and invitations. The form combines an ordinal day, the German month name, and the year in words, where the year is read differently depending on the century. This tool produces the full written date for any calendar day.

How it works

The date is split into day, month and year. The day becomes an ordinal: the cardinal stem plus -te up to 19 and -ste from 20, with the four irregular stems erst-, dritt-, siebt- and acht-. The tool shows the nominative masculine ending -er, giving vierter for the 4th and einunddreißigster for the 31st.

The month is taken from the German names: Januar, Februar, März, April, Mai, Juni, Juli, August, September, Oktober, November, Dezember.

The year uses two conventions. From 1100 to 1999 it is read in the hundreds pattern — 1984 is neunzehnhundertvierundachtzig. From 2000 onward it is a plain cardinal — 2026 is zweitausendsechsundzwanzig. The boundary at 2000 reflects how German speakers actually voice years.

Example

04.06.2026 becomes:

vierter Juni zweitausendsechsundzwanzig

and 19.08.1984 becomes neunzehnter August neunzehnhundertvierundachtzig.

Tips

In a running sentence the day ending follows the grammatical case, not the nominative shown here: you write am vierten Juni (dative after am) and der vierte Juni ist ein Donnerstag (nominative as the subject). Use the nominative output as your starting point and adjust the final -er to -en after prepositions like am, zum or vom.