01
die Milliarde
billion
The number 1,000,000,000; one thousand million.
example
Die Weltbevölkerung liegt bei über acht Milliarden Menschen.
The world population is over eight billion people.
die Milliarde
billion
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Meanings
Usage tips
False friend
Careful: the German 'Milliarde' (10⁹) corresponds to the English 'billion'. The German 'Billion' (10¹²) corresponds to the English 'trillion'. This mix-up can lead to huge misunderstandings.
EXAMPLE
Das Unternehmen machte einen Gewinn von zwei Milliarden Euro.
The company made a profit of two billion euros.
Use as a number word
When 'Milliarde' (billion) is used as an exact number word, the noun being counted follows directly after it, without an article or preposition. It behaves like 'hundert' (hundred) or 'tausend' (thousand).
EXAMPLE
Auf der Erde leben fast acht Milliarden Menschen.
Almost eight billion people live on Earth.
Abbreviation
In newspaper articles, financial news, and scientific texts, the abbreviation 'Mrd.' is often used for 'Milliarde' or 'Milliarden' (billion/billions).
EXAMPLE
Der Konzernumsatz betrug im letzten Jahr 5,5 Mrd. Dollar.
The corporation's revenue last year was 5.5 billion dollars.
Compare with
Milliarde vs Million
million
'die Million' and 'die Milliarde' are both large numbers and are often used for money, population figures, or costs. The difference is very large: one million is 1,000,000, while eine Milliarde is 1,000,000,000. So eine Milliarde is one thousand million. Learners may confuse the words because they sound similar and both begin with 'Milli-'. With numbers, however, the distinction is important because the amount changes greatly.
Milliarde
Der neue Bahnhof kostet mehr als eine Milliarde Euro.
The new train station costs more than one billion euros.
Million
Die kleine Stadt hat fast eine Million Einwohner.
The small city has almost one million inhabitants.
In real life
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