Names for ordinal numbers facts for kids
Ordinal numbers are special words that tell you the position or order of something in a list. Think about a race: the person who finishes first, second, or third is using an ordinal number to describe their place!
Contents
What are Ordinal Numbers?
Ordinal numbers show the order of things, like "first," "second," "third," and so on. They are different from cardinal numbers, which tell you "how many" (like one, two, three).
Common Ordinal Numbers
Many ordinal numbers are formed by adding "-th" to the end of a cardinal number. For example, "four" becomes "fourth," and "seven" becomes "seventh."
However, some small numbers have special, irregular forms. It's important to remember these!
- 1: first
- 2: second
- 3: third
- 4: fourth
- 5: fifth
- 6: sixth
- 7: seventh
- 8: eighth
- 9: ninth
- 10: tenth
- 11: eleventh
- 12: twelfth
- 13: thirteenth
- 14: fourteenth
- 15: fifteenth
- 16: sixteenth
- 17: seventeenth
- 18: eighteenth
- 19: nineteenth
Ordinal Numbers for Tens
When you count in tens, the ordinal numbers also follow a pattern. Notice how "ty" often changes to "tieth":
- 20: twentieth
- 30: thirtieth
- 40: fortieth
- 50: fiftieth
- 60: sixtieth
- 70: seventieth
- 80: eightieth
- 90: ninetieth
Writing Larger Ordinal Numbers
Numbers from 21 to 99
For numbers between 21 and 99, you only change the last number into its ordinal form. You also need to use a hyphen (-) to connect the words.
- 21: twenty-first
- 64: sixty-fourth
- 99: ninety-ninth
Numbers from 100 to 999
When you write ordinal numbers from 100 to 999, here's how it works:
- First, say how many hundreds there are.
- If there's nothing left over (like for 200 or 300), you add "hundredth."
- If there are numbers left over, you say "hundred" and then the ordinal form of the leftover part. Sometimes people add "and" before the leftover part.
Here are some examples:
- 100: one hundredth (or sometimes "the hundredth")
- 101: one hundred first
- 102: one hundred second (or one hundred and second)
- 175: one hundred seventy-fifth
- 200: two hundredth
- 300: three hundredth
- 512: five hundred twelfth
- 987: nine hundred eighty-seventh
Short Forms of Ordinal Numbers
You can also write ordinal numbers using a number followed by a special ending. These endings are usually "-st," "-nd," "-rd," or "-th."
- 1st (for first)
- 2nd (for second)
- 3rd (for third)
- 4th (for fourth)
- 15th (for fifteenth)
- 63rd (for sixty-third)
- 80th (for eightieth)
- 987th (for nine hundred eighty-seventh)
- 2001st (for two thousand first)
Related pages
