Four-and-twenty, half-to-four, five-euro-fifty. Type any number, time or price and hear a native voice say it — with the order spelled out so it finally clicks.
vierentwintig
It looks reversed, but it never changes. Learn the three rules and every number from 0 to 999 falls into place.
24 = vier + en + twintig (vierentwintig). The small number comes first, joined with en. Always.
22 is tweeëntwintig, 23 is drieëntwintig. The two dots mark where the vowels meet — pure spelling, same rule.
half vier is 3:30 (halfway to four). 3:20 is tien voor half vier — ten before the half.
The real test is catching a price or an appointment time at speed. Play a spoken number, type what you heard, repeat until it is instant.
Play a spoken number, type the digits you hear.
In Dutch the units are said before the tens: 24 is vierentwintig, literally four-and-twenty. It feels reversed to English speakers, but it is completely regular from 21 to 99 — unit + en + tens. Once you hear the pattern a few times it stops tripping you up, which is exactly what the listening drill is for.
21 is eenentwintig, 22 is tweeëntwintig and 23 is drieëntwintig. Note the trema (the two dots) on tweeën and drieën — it marks where two vowels meet so the word is read correctly. Every number from 21 to 99 follows the same unit-en-tens shape.
Half vier means 3:30, not 4:30. Dutch counts toward the coming hour: half vier is halfway to four. The same logic gives tien voor half vier for 3:20 (ten before half-four) and vijf over half vier for 3:35. It is the single most confusing part of Dutch time — the trainer lets you drill it until it is automatic.
You say the euros, then the cents, without the word cent: €5,50 is vijf euro vijftig. A whole amount is just vijf euro, and a cents-only price like €0,99 becomes negenennegentig cent. This matters at every till, market and gemeente desk.
Vocabulary, grammar and all five DUO sections — Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking and KNM — in the real exam format.