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Ordinal numbers describe an order/rank.
Learn about Spanish ordinal numbers
Here are the Spanish ordinal numbers from 1st to 10th. Some of them have the same form as their fraction equivalents.
| English | Spanish | |
|
1st |
first | primero/-a |
| 2nd | second | segundo/-a |
|
3rd |
third | tercero/-a |
| 4th | fourth | cuarto/-a |
| 5th | fifth | quinto/-a |
| 6th | sixth |
sexto/-a |
| 7th | seventh |
séptimo/-a |
| 8th | eighth |
octavo/-a |
| 9th | ninth |
noveno/-a |
| 10th | tenth |
décimo/-a |
Here are some examples:
El sexto día, después de la operación, tuve una infección.The sixth day after the operation, I got an infection.
Notice how in Spanish the ordinal number must agree in gender and number with the noun it is referring to.
Very often ordinal numbers are accompanied by determiners such as articles (el, la, los...) or possessives (mi, nuestro...). Bear in mind that these must agree with the number and noun as well, e.g "la primera planta", "nuestro segundo nieto", etc.
First and third before masculine singular nouns
Note that primero (first) and tercero (third) have a shorter form when they are placed in front of a masculine singular noun.
Cardinal numbers = 1, 2, 3, etc.
Ordinal numbers = describe an order/rank = 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.
Fractions = describe a part of a whole = half, third, fourth, etc.
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