Ordinal numbers in English

What are ordinal numbers?

Ordinal numbers are used to show us how something or someone is ranked on a list and what their exact position is. They are only used to refer to a position but not a quantity which is what we use cardinal numbers for. Majority of the ordinal numbers follow the same structure with the exception from the written version of 1 to 4 as we can see from the table below. 

Ordinal numbers chart

Ordinal numbers examples

• This was from my first marathon. 
• I live on the second floor.
• He chose the third dish. 
• I need the twenty-sixth piece from the collection.
• His world rank is seventy-eighth.

Ordinal numbers grammar

Ordinal numbers and their written form are rather specific thus it is important to pay attention to ensure the correct form is written. 

1. The most special cases are the first three numbers:

As we can see from the table the form for first, second, and third remains a constant regardless of where it is used in a positional manner. 

2. The case of 11, 12, 13: While the ending number of them is the same as the one we discussed in the first example they are exception to the rule and always needs to be written in one specific way. 

• Eleventh
• Twelfth
• Thirteenth

Cardinal and ordinal numbers

The main diffrence between the two is that cardinal numbers directly refer to a quantity whereas ordinal numbers only refer to a position but not quantity. 

However, the two work hand in hand as excluding the exception all of the other ordinal numbers are formed by adding the suffix -th to the cardinal number. 

Example: