Forming ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 10th...) : French language lesson

Ordinal numbers describe an order/rank.

Look at these ordinal numbers:

English	French	Long-hand
1st	1^er/ 1^re	premier (m) / première (f)
2nd	2^e / 2^d/ 2^de	deuxième second (m) / seconde (f)
3rd	3^e	troisième
4th	4^e	quatrième
5th	5^e	cinquième
9th	9^e	neuvième

The main rule to form ordinal numbers is as follows:

Cardinal number + -ième at the end
(stripping off any mute -e if there is one first)

EXCEPTIONS

- premier/première and second/seconde agree in gender with the noun they refer to

- you add a -u after cinq to form cinquième, as the syllable "qi" doesn't exist in French.

- the -f of neuf becomes a -v in neuvième, simply to ease the pronunciation.

Now listen to these examples:

Je préfère la première robe.
I prefer the first dress.

Il a fini le troisième exercice.
He finished the third exercise.

Je suis arrivé sixième au marathon.
I came sixth at the marathon.

J'ai réussi la neuvième fois.
I managed the ninth time.

When to use deuxième vs second/seconde ?

On aime la deuxième chanson de l'album.
We like the second song of the album.

Il y avait deux gâteaux sur la table: j'en ai mangé un, tu as mangé le second.
There were two cakes on the table: I ate one, you ate the second one.

- Use deuxième if there are more than two things,
- Use second/e if there are only two options.

Cardinal numbers = 1,2,3 etc
Ordinal numbers = describing an order/rank = 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc Fractions = describing a part of a whole = half, third, fourth etc
Also see Expressing fractions - general (numbers)

Examples and resources

On aime la deuxième chanson de l'album.
We like the second song of the album.

Il y avait deux gâteaux sur la table: j'en ai mangé un, tu as mangé le second.
There were two cakes on the table: I ate one, you ate the second one.

Il a fini le troisième exercice.
He finished the third exercise.

J'ai réussi la neuvième fois.
I managed the ninth time.

Je préfère la première robe.
I prefer the first dress.

Je suis arrivé sixième au marathon.
I came sixth at the marathon.

Q&A

Julia

Kwiziq community member

23 February 2019

23/02/19

- sorry, message sent by mistake. Please delete! -

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

22 August 2018

22/08/18

Bonjour Scott et merci pour votre suggestion très utile !

I've now added this case to the lesson :)

Bonne journée !

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

22 December 2016

22/12/16

Bonjour Joakim ! The expression "le Tiers Monde" to say "the Third World" is fixed as it is in English: this is the only way to say this in French. "Le Troisième Monde" would feel like there are more than one world, i.e. one planet, when here it's more of a division of the world into three "parts", hence the use of the fraction here. À bientôt !