NumbersCardinal and ordinal
A cardinal number says how many: three books. An ordinal number says which one in order: the third book. Dates, ranks in a race, floors of a building, classes in school and centuries all use ordinals.
How ordinals are formed
- Most add th to the cardinal: four, fourth; six, sixth; ten, tenth.
- Three are irregular: first, second, third.
- Some change their spelling: five becomes fifth, eight becomes eighth (one "t"), nine becomes ninth (no "e"), twelve becomes twelfth.
- Tens ending in "y" change to "ieth": twenty, twentieth; forty, fortieth.
- In a longer number only the last word changes: twenty-first, one hundred and third.
The short forms: st, nd, rd, th
Look at the last digit: 1 takes st, 2 takes nd, 3 takes rd, and everything else takes th. The exception is 11, 12 and 13, which take th: 11th, 12th, 13th. The same holds for 111th, 112th and 113th. So it is 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, but 11th, 12th, 13th.
Ordinals in dates
In India a date is usually written "15 August 1947" or "15th August 1947" and read as "the fifteenth of August". Both written forms are accepted. In formal writing the plain number is now more common.
The first ten ordinals in Hindi
| English | first | second | third | fourth | fifth | sixth | seventh | eighth | ninth | tenth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hindi | पहला | दूसरा | तीसरा | चौथा | पाँचवाँ | छठा | सातवाँ | आठवाँ | नौवाँ | दसवाँ |
After छठा (sixth), Hindi ordinals add वाँ to the number: ग्यारहवाँ (eleventh), बीसवाँ (twentieth), सौवाँ (hundredth). The ending changes with gender: पहला लड़का, पहली लड़की.
Common mistakes
- Writing 2th, 3th or 1th. Use 2nd, 3rd and 1st.
- Writing 11st, 12nd or 13rd. The teens always take th.
- Spelling "fourty-first" or "nineth". It is forty-first and ninth.
- Using an ordinal for a count: "I have third books" should be "three books".
See also numbers 1 to 100 in words and the guide on writing numbers in words.