Some grammatical points
When asking for a quantity "of" something in German, the word for "of" is omitted.

Grammar 1: Nouns of quantity   English German a piece of cake ein Stück Kuchen a glass of beer ein Glas Bier a portion of chips eine Portion Pommes a bottle of wine eine Flasche Wein

Note too that even following numerals greater than one, masculine and neuter nouns of weight, measurement or value must remain in the singular:

Grammar 2: Plurals of nouns of quantity   English German three pieces of cake drei Stück Kuchen two glasses of beer zwei Glas Bier five sacks of potatoes fünf Sack Kartoffeln six pairs of shoes sechs Paar Schuhe ten English pounds zehn englische Pfund for a few dollars more um ein paar Dollar mehr

Feminine nouns of quantity do take the plural form however:

Grammar 3: Plurals of fem. nouns of quantity   English German seven portions of chips sieben Portionen Pommes eleven bottles of wine elf Flaschen Wein sixteen cups of tea sechzehn Tassen Tee

Feminine nouns for currencies remain singular however. Thus the former German currency "die Mark" never took a plural ending - i.e. "zwanzig Mark", "drei Mark 50".

Test yourself!
Test yourself on singular and plural endings for quantities by taking this multiple-choice exercise. Click on the bar below to get started.

German weights and measures
German uses the metric system and the basic unit of weight is the gram - das Gramm - which equates to 0.0353 ounces. One ounce equals 28 Gramm. Note again here that the quantity is singular in German whereas we would say 28 grams in English.

The pound - das Pfund - is also used in German-speaking countries, but note that a German pound is slightly heavier than an English pound. One Pfund is equal to 500 Gramm, whereas one English pound equates to 454 grams.

Grammar 4: Weights and measures   Weight Gramm Ounces 100g 100 Gramm 3.5 oz ein Viertelpfund 125 Gramm 4.375 oz ein halbes Pfund 250 Gramm 8.75 oz ein Pfund 500 Gramm 1lb 1oz das Kilo(gramm) 1000 Gramm 2lb 2oz

Conversion table
You can use the table below to convert from pounds and ounces to grams and back again. You can also try out some more obscure units of weight with it!

German-speaking countries use the litre - der Liter - to measure liquids. One litre is equivalent to 1.7 pints. One Liter is made up of 1000 Milliliter.

Chapter 7.7: Numbers greater than 100

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