Ordinal numbers can be used to determine a sequence. The ordinal number represents the position of an element in the sequence. For example, the days of the month are a series of numbers in which one day ranks in a certain position:
Example:
der siebzehnte März = the 17th day in the month of March
der dreißigste April = the 30th day in the month of April
In German, ordinal numbers are written as digits followed by a period:
Examples:
der 17. März = March 17th
der 30. April = April 30th
When spoken or written out as a word, they are formed as follows:
For the numbers 1 to 19, the ending -te is added to the cardinal number in the singular.
Exceptions for ordinal numbers are "eins", "drei", "sieben" and "acht".
eins | der erste (irregular) | |
zwei | der zweite | |
drei | der dritte (irregular) | |
vier | der vierte | |
fünf | der fünfte | |
sechs | der sechste | |
sieben | der siebte (en is omitted) | |
acht | der achte (only one t) | |
neun | der neunte | |
zehn | der zehnte | |
elf | der elfte | |
zwölf | der zwölfte | |
dreizehn | der dreizehnte | |
... etcetera | ||
zwanzig | der zwanzigste | |
dreißig | der dreißigste | |
vierzig | der vierzigste | |
... etcetera |
Combined ordinal numbers greater than 13 are formed the same way as cardinal numbers:
First you say the hundreds, then the ones, then the tens. Only the last part is given the ending for ordinal numbers.
14. | = der vierzehnte | |||
21. | = der einundzwanzigste | |||
155. | = der hundertfünfundfünfzigste | |||
Note: | 101. | = der hunderterste |
More:
Ordinal numbers usually precede the noun they describe. They can be used with definite or indefinite articles - or no article at all.
Ordinal numbers have different endings according to gender, case and number and the accompanying article.
Example:
Das erste Problem: Heute ist der 31. April.
But:
Ich sehe Sie heute zum ersten Mal.