8 (eight) in German is acht. You use it when counting, giving an age, saying a time, or identifying a number. The main pronunciation challenge is the German ch sound after the vowel. Learning useful expressions such as acht Uhr, “eight o’clock,” will help you use the number naturally.
Quick answer:
8 = acht. Eight o’clock = acht Uhr. Eight years old = acht Jahre alt. “The eighth” uses an ordinal form such as der achte.
How Do You Say 8 in German?
Say acht. It comes after sieben, seven, and before neun, nine. As a basic number word, it is normally written with a lowercase initial letter unless it begins a sentence or is used as a noun.
Example: Ich habe acht Bücher. — I have eight books.
Place acht before a noun to give a quantity: acht Bücher, “eight books,” and acht Personen, “eight people.” The noun is normally plural. The number does not change according to masculine, feminine, or neuter gender in these ordinary counting phrases.
If someone asks Wie viele brauchst du?, “How many do you need?”, you can answer Acht when the object is already understood. In a full sentence, Ich brauche acht means “I need eight.” Add the noun if the listener needs to know what is being counted.
Useful Forms Related to Eight
1. Acht — Eight
Acht is the cardinal number, used for a quantity or numerical label. Acht Minuten is “eight minutes,” while Zimmer acht identifies “room eight.” One phrase counts a duration; the other names a particular room.
When talking about the digit as a noun, use die Acht: Schreib eine Acht means “Write an eight.” The capital letter shows the noun use. This differs from the lowercase number before a counted noun.
2. Achte — Eighth
The ordinal stem is acht- with the appropriate adjective ending. Der achte Tag is “the eighth day,” and die achte Seite is “the eighth page.” Do not use the cardinal acht when the sentence needs an adjective expressing position.
In writing, a digit followed by a period can represent the ordinal: der 8. Tag. A date such as am 8. Mai is read am achten Mai, “on May eighth.” The ending changes because of the grammatical construction.
3. Acht Uhr — Eight O’Clock
Acht Uhr means “eight o’clock.” Es ist acht Uhr means “It is eight o’clock.” For an event at that time, add um: Der Kurs beginnt um acht Uhr — “The course begins at eight.”
Keep Uhr separate from Stunden. Acht Uhr is a clock time, while acht Stunden is a duration of eight hours. A journey lasting eight hours does not become acht Uhr simply because English uses the word “hours.”
4. Acht Jahre Alt — Eight Years Old
Acht Jahre alt means “eight years old.” Das Kind ist acht Jahre alt is “The child is eight years old.” German uses sein, “to be,” in this age expression, which is similar to the English pattern.
When the context is clearly age, you may also hear Er ist acht, “He is eight.” The fuller phrase acht Jahre alt is useful for learners because it explicitly states what the number means.
8 in German: Quick Comparison
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| German expression | English meaning | Useful distinction |
|---|---|---|
| acht | eight | The cardinal number |
| acht Bücher | eight books | A quantity |
| acht Uhr | eight o’clock | Clock time |
| um acht Uhr | at eight o’clock | Time of an event |
| acht Stunden | eight hours | A duration |
| acht Jahre alt | eight years old | Age |
| der achte Tag | the eighth day | Position in a sequence |
| die Acht | the eight / the digit eight | The number used as a noun |
| achtzehn | eighteen | A different number |
| achtzig | eighty | A different number |
How to Pronounce Acht
Acht is one syllable. Begin with a clear a, similar to the vowel in “father” but kept short here, then make the back-of-the-mouth ch sound, and finish with t. The ch is not the English sound in “chair.”
The sound is often compared with the ending of Scottish “loch.” It is produced with friction toward the back of the mouth. An English approximation such as “ahkht” may help indicate the sequence, but the actual sound is not simply a hard k.
Try the word slowly without inserting an extra vowel between the ch and t. Then practice acht Uhr as a connected phrase. Keeping it to one syllable makes the number easier to recognize in natural speech.
Counting Around Eight
Practice counting from one to ten in German, then compare eight with eighteen and eighty. These values share part of their spelling, but they are not interchangeable.
- 5 — fünf
- 6 — sechs
- 7 — sieben
- 8 — acht
- 9 — neun
- 10 — zehn
- 18 — achtzehn
- 80 — achtzig
Achtzehn combines eight with the teen ending, while achtzig names the tens value eighty. Listen to the ending rather than identifying the number from the opening acht alone.
For twenty-eight, German reverses the order of the ones and tens compared with English: achtundzwanzig, literally “eight and twenty.” That is a separate compound number, written as one word.
Using Eight with Nouns
The numeral normally stands before the plural noun without an extra word for “of”: acht Personen, “eight people.” If you mean eight from a particular group, use a fuller expression such as acht von diesen Personen, “eight of these people.”
The noun can still change according to grammatical case. Mit acht Freunden means “with eight friends.” The preposition mit requires dative, so the plural noun Freunde becomes Freunden. The number acht remains unchanged.
Money and measurement expressions have their own familiar noun forms: acht Euro, “eight euros,” and acht Kilometer, “eight kilometers.” Learn the unit with the number rather than adding an English plural ending.
With a numbered room or page, the noun can be singular because the number is a label: Zimmer acht, “room eight,” or Seite acht, “page eight.” Compare this with acht Zimmer, “eight rooms.”
Example Sentences
These examples show quantity, clock time, and age. The same cardinal number remains recognizable while the surrounding expression supplies the role.
Use: Acht gives the quantity, and Stühle is the plural of Stuhl.
Use: Um introduces the time of the event. Uhr identifies a clock time rather than a duration.
Use: German uses sein for age. Jahre alt makes the meaning explicit.
Common Mistakes
Do not pronounce ch as the English consonant in “chair,” and do not add a second syllable inside acht. Keep the word separate from achtzehn, eighteen, and achtzig, eighty.
Do not confuse acht Uhr with acht Stunden. Use um acht Uhr for the time of an event and acht Stunden for how long something lasts. Finally, remember the ordinal ending in phrases such as der achte Tag and am achten Mai.
Frequently Asked Questions About 8 (Eight) in German
Tap a question below to see the answer.
How do you say 8 in German?
Say acht. It is one syllable and comes between sieben, seven, and neun, nine.
How do you pronounce ch in acht?
It is a back-of-the-mouth friction sound, often compared with the ch in Scottish loch. It is not the English sound in chair. Finish the word with t.
What is eight o’clock in German?
Acht Uhr. Say Es ist acht Uhr for “It is eight o’clock,” or um acht Uhr for “at eight o’clock.”
How do I say eight years old?
Say acht Jahre alt. For example, Das Kind ist acht Jahre alt means “The child is eight years old.”
What is the difference between achtzehn and achtzig?
Achtzehn is eighteen, while achtzig is eighty. Listen to the ending, because both begin with acht.
How do I say eighth?
Use an ordinal form such as der achte. The ending changes with the phrase: der achte Tag, but am achten Mai.
Summary
8 (eight) in German is acht. Practice its one-syllable pronunciation and the back ch sound. The number stays the same before masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns in ordinary counting phrases.
Useful expressions include acht Uhr, acht Jahre alt, and acht Bücher. Keep clock time separate from a duration, and learn ordinal forms such as der achte when you mean a position.
