【英文版西语语法】Ordinal Numbers in Spanish

 Ordinal numbers, as the name suggests, are numbers that indicate the order of nouns in a series. And just like cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers are adjectives. But unlike cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers actually do match the noun they modify in both gender and number, and in most cases, they precede (go before) the noun.

 

Es el segundo carro que he comprado.

It is the second car that I have bought.

 

Los primeros días de nuestras vacaciones fueron fantásticos.

The first days of our vacation were fantastic.

 

Mira la octava página.

Look at the eighth page.

 

Fuimos las primeras personas invitadas a la fiesta.

We were the first people invited to the party.

 

Basic Ordinal Numbers 1st-100th

 

1st

primero (primer)

 

2nd

segundo

 

3rd

tercero (tercer)

 

4th

cuarto

 

5th

quinto

 

6th

sexto

 

7th

séptimo

 

8th

octavo

 

9th

noveno

 

10th

décimo

 

11th

undécimo

 

12th

duodécimo

 

13th

decimotercero

 

14th

decimocuarto

 

15th

decimoquinto

 

16th

decimosexto

 

17th

decimoséptimo

 

18th

decimoctavo

 

19th

decimonoveno

 

20th

vigésimo

 

30th

trigésimo

 

40th

cuadragésimo

 

50th

quincuagésimo

 

60th

sexagésimo

 

70th

septuagésimo

 

80th

octagésimo

 

90th

nonagésimo

 

100th

centésimo

 

Ordinal numbers 1st-12th

 

The ordinal numbers 1st-12th should be memorized as they have unique forms. Newer forms, also accepted by the RAE, for 11th and 12th are decimoprimero  and decimosegundo , respectively.

 

Ordinal numbers 13th-19th

 

The teens are a bit special as they are written as a single word according to the following formula:

 

multiple of ten (minus any written accents) + 1st-9th

 

13th - décimo + tercero = decimotercero  

15th - décimo + quinto = decimoquinto  

19th - décimo + noveno = decimonoveno  

Notice that 18th does not follow the pattern since the -o is removed from décimo before adding octavo so that you don’t end up with two -os in a row.

It is also acceptable according to the RAE to write the ordinal numbers 13-29 as two separate words.

 

13th - décimo tercero  

15th - décimo quinto  

19th - décimo noveno  

Ordinal numbers 21st-99th

 

The rest of the ordinal numbers below 100 are fairly simple. Write out each successive ordinal number as a separate word.

 

21st - vigésimo + primero = vigésimo primero  

36th - trigésimo + sexto = trigésimo sexto  

99th - nonagésimo + noveno = nonagésimo noveno  

Ordinal numbers past 100

 

200th

ducentésimo

 

300th

tricentésimo

 

400th

cuadringentésimo

 

500th

quingentésimo

 

600th

sexcentésimo

 

700th

septingentésimo

 

800th

octingentésimo

 

900th

noningentésimo

 

1,000th

milésimo

 

For ordinal numbers between the multiples of 100, simply follow the previous rules. Write out each successive ordinal number as a separate word.

 

482nd - 400th + 80th + 2nd = cuadringentésimo octagésimo segundo  

177th - 100th + 70th + 7th = centésimo septuagésimo séptimo  

¡Ojo! A Few Notes

 

Formal Usage

 

Ordinal numbers are most commonly used up to the 10th. The 11th and higher are fairly uncommon and considered formal. For larger numbers, it is actually more common to just use the ordinal number, especially in speech.

 

Durante el siglo 19...

During the 19th century...

 

Cumplo 30 años hoy.

It’s my 30th birthday today.

 

Ending Changes

 

Know that primero and tercero change to primer and tercer respectively when they precede a singular masculine noun.

 

Juan está en el tercer piso.

Juan is on the third floor.

 

el primer hombre

the first man

 

Abbreviations

 

Ordinal numbers in English take -st for one (1st), -nd for two (2nd), -rd for three (3rd), and -th for the rest of the numbers (4th, 5th,...). In Spanish you add a decimal and then the superscript o for all numbers, or a if you are counting feminine nouns, and er for shorter versions such as primer (1.er) and tercer (3.er).

 

primer -> 1.er

segundo -> 2.o

tercera -> 3.a

Placement

 

In Spanish, cardinal numbers usually precede, or go in front of, the nouns the modify. However, if the noun is royalty, a pope, or a street name, then they go after the noun.

 

Carlos Quinto

Carlos the 5th

 

el papa Benedicto Decimosexto

Pope Benedict the 16th

 

la Calle Octava

8th Street

 

If both cardinal and ordinal numbers appear together, the cardinal number goes before the ordinal number.

 

Me encantan las dos primeras escenas.

I love the first two scenes.

 

Estuve enferma los tres primeros días.

I was sick the first three days.