ORDINAL NUMBERS

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Daily Vitamin. I hope you had an excellent weekend, and I hope your week has started off well!

Numbers are one of the most difficult things about learning a foreign language. Even very advanced students of English often have trouble with numbers like 1,568 (one thousand five hundred and sixty-eight) or 113,486 (one hundred and thirteen thousand four hundred and eighty-six).

Today we will look at ordinal numbers. If you know the normal cardinal numbers, the ordinal numbers are quite easy. You just have to learn the pattern of the endings.

First (1st)
Second (2nd)
Third (3rd)
Fourth (4th)
Fifth (5th)
Sixth (6th)
Seventh (7th)
Eighth (8th)
Ninth (9th)
Tenth (10th)
Eleventh (11th)
Twelfth (12th)
Thirteenth (13th)
Etc.

After 'third' (3rd) we just need to add 'th' to the cardinal number (sometimes with spelling changes), except when it is the 'first', 'second' or 'third' of a larger number:

31st (thirty-first)
42nd (forty-second)
103rd (one hundred and third)

BUT
34th (thirty-fourth)
55th (fifty-fifth)
1,568th (one thousand five hundred and sixty-eighth)
113,486th (one hundred and thirteen thousand four hundred and eighty-sixth).

I hope that's clear. If you have any questions or comments about the ordinal numbers in English, feel free to post your questions/comments on one of our social media sites (Facebook or Bluesky) and we'll answer you ASAP.

Enjoy the rest of your day!