Ordinal Numbers | Afrikaans Grammar

Ordinal numbers tell you position in a sequence — first, second, third, tenth — as opposed to cardinals (one, two, three), which tell you how many. In Afrikaans the ordinals are built by adding a small ending to the cardinal, and the good news is that the choice of ending follows the same voicing logic as the comparative and superlative: it is not a fresh system to memorise but an application of a pattern you already half-know. There are exactly three forms that bend the rule, and once you have those, the rest is mechanical. This page gives you the full set, the -de / -ste rule, and how ordinals work in dates and ranks.

The two endings: -de and -ste

Almost every ordinal is the cardinal plus -de or -ste. The split is phonological:

Use -ste after stems ending in -t (and after the -tig tens, where it attaches as -ste).
Use -de everywhere else — the default.

That is the whole rule. It mirrors the superlative, where -ste also follows the same kinds of stems, which is why it feels familiar once pointed out.

Number	Ordinal	English	Ending
1	eerste	first	irregular
2	tweede	second	-de
3	derde	third	irregular
4	vierde	fourth	-de
5	vyfde	fifth	-de
6	sesde	sixth	-de
7	sewende	seventh	-de
8	agste	eighth	irregular (-ste, not -de)
9	negende	ninth	-de
10	tiende	tenth	-de

Dit is my eerste keer hier.

This is my first time here.

Sy het tweede gekom in die wedloop.

She came second in the race.

Vandag is my sewende dag by die werk.

Today is my seventh day at work.

The three irregulars: eerste, derde, agste

Three ordinals do not come straight off the cardinal, and these are the ones worth memorising as exceptions because they trip up every learner who tries to regularise them.

eerste (first) — not eende or eende. It has its own root, like English "first" versus "one".
derde (third) — the cardinal is drie, but the ordinal contracts to derde, not driede. Compare English "three" → "third".
agste (eighth) — the cardinal is ag(t), and because the stem already ends in -t, the ordinal takes -ste, giving agste — never agtde. This is the same -t
- -ste logic as the superlative.

Hy het die agste plek behaal.

He took eighth place.

Die derde dag was die warmste.

The third day was the hottest.

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Memorise the irregular trio together: eerste, derde, agste. Everything else is the cardinal + -de, except the -tig tens and the round numbers, which take -ste. If you find yourself writing agtde or driede, stop — those forms do not exist.

The teens and the -tig tens

From eleven up, the teens stay regular with -de: elfde (11th), twaalfde (12th), dertiende (13th), veertiende (14th), and so on through negentiende (19th).

The tens ending in -tig all take -ste, because -tig ends in -t. This is the boundary the brief flags: below twenty you mostly get -de, but every -tig ten switches to -ste.

Number	Ordinal	English
11	elfde	eleventh
12	twaalfde	twelfth
13	dertiende	thirteenth
20	twintigste	twentieth
30	dertigste	thirtieth
40	veertigste	fortieth
100	honderdste	hundredth
1000	duisendste	thousandth

Ons vier vanjaar die honderdste bestaansjaar van die skool.

This year we celebrate the school's hundredth anniversary.

Sy het op haar dertigste verjaardag getrou.

She got married on her thirtieth birthday.

In compound numbers like 21st, you build the ordinal on the last element only: een-en-twintig (21) → een-en-twintigste (21st), because twintig ends in -tig. The leading parts stay cardinal.

Ons leef in die een-en-twintigste eeu.

We live in the twenty-first century.

Dit is die drie-en-dertigste keer dat hy probeer.

This is the thirty-third time he's tried.

Why the -de / -ste split is not arbitrary

It is tempting to treat -de versus -ste as something to memorise word by word, but there is a real pattern, and seeing it saves you the memorisation. Afrikaans uses -ste as its superlative ending too (grootste, mooiste), and ordinals borrow exactly the same distribution: stems that end in a voiceless -t take the -ste form (agste, twintigste), while voiced and vowel stems take -de (tweede, vierde, sewende). So an ordinal is, structurally, a superlative-shaped ending on a number. Once you internalise "ranks pattern like superlatives", you can predict almost any ordinal without a table.

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Ordinals are not a new system — they reuse the -ste distribution you already meet in superlatives. Stems in -t (and the -tig tens) take -ste; everything else takes -de.

Using ordinals: ranks, dates, and the attributive position

Ordinals are used attributively, sitting directly before the noun, exactly where an adjective goes, and usually after die (the):

Die vierde huis aan die linkerkant is myne.

The fourth house on the left is mine.

Hy was die eerste mens om die berg te klim.

He was the first person to climb the mountain.

For dates, Afrikaans uses the ordinal followed by the month. The pattern is die + ordinal + month: die derde Junie (the third of June). In speech the day is ordinal; in writing you will also see the bare numeral.

My verjaardag is op die derde Junie.

My birthday is on the third of June.

Die vergadering is op die een-en-twintigste Mei.

The meeting is on the twenty-first of May.

When written as a numeral, an ordinal takes a following point: die 3de, die 21ste — the abbreviation simply tacks the ending onto the digit. Full date formatting is covered on dates, and a fuller range of usage on ordinals in use.

Sien jou op die 1ste.

See you on the 1st.

Ordinals standing alone as nouns

An ordinal can also stand on its own, without a following noun, when context makes the noun obvious — "the first one", "the second", "the third". Afrikaans does this exactly as English does, keeping die and the ordinal but dropping the thing being counted.

Watter een wil jy hê? — Die tweede.

Which one do you want? — The second one.

Sy was die eerste om klaar te maak.

She was the first to finish.

Hy het tweede gekom, en ek vyfde.

He came second, and I came fifth.

In Hy het tweede gekom there is no noun at all — the ordinal works adverbially to mean "in second place". This bare, noun-less ordinal is common in talk about races, rankings, queues, and competitions, and it keeps the same -de / -ste forms.

eerste, laaste, and the "X-th from the end"

Two ordinals you will reach for constantly are eerste (first) and its natural partner laaste (last). Laaste is not built on a number but behaves like an ordinal in every position, and the two pair up neatly.

Dit is die laaste keer dat ek dit doen.

This is the last time I'm doing it.

Sy was eerste in die ry en hy was laaste.

She was first in the queue and he was last.

To count from the end, Afrikaans uses laaste with a preceding ordinal: die tweede laaste (the second-to-last / penultimate). English speakers sometimes hunt for a single word here, but Afrikaans simply stacks the ordinal before laaste.

Ons sit op die tweede laaste ry.

We're sitting in the second-to-last row.

Common mistakes

❌ Hy het die agtde plek behaal.

Incorrect — the eighth is agste (-ste after -t), never agtde.

✅ Hy het die agste plek behaal.

He took eighth place.

❌ Dit is die driede dag.

Incorrect — the third is derde, not a regularised driede.

✅ Dit is die derde dag.

It's the third day.

❌ Ons leef in die een-en-twintigde eeu.

Incorrect — twintig ends in -tig, so it takes -ste: twintigste.

✅ Ons leef in die een-en-twintigste eeu.

We live in the twenty-first century.

❌ My verjaardag is op die drie Junie.

Incorrect — dates use the ordinal, not the cardinal.

✅ My verjaardag is op die derde Junie.

My birthday is on the third of June.

❌ Dit is my eende keer hier.

Incorrect — 'first' is the irregular eerste, not a form built on een.

✅ Dit is my eerste keer hier.

This is my first time here.

Key takeaways

Ordinals = cardinal + -de (default) or -ste (after -t stems and the -tig tens) — the same distribution as the superlative.
Three irregulars to memorise: eerste (1st), derde (3rd), agste (8th, with -ste not -de).
The -tig tens and round numbers take -ste: twintigste, dertigste, honderdste, duisendste.
In compounds, the ending goes on the last element only: een-en-twintigste.
Ordinals are attributive (before the noun, after die) and are used for dates: die derde Junie.

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