Ordinal Numbers | Croatian Grammar

Ordinal numbers — first, second, third, and so on — answer "which one in the order?" rather than "how many?" In Croatian they behave completely differently from the cardinals you have just learned: cardinals govern the noun's case from a distance, but ordinals are plain adjectives. They decline fully, agree with their noun in gender, number, and case, and slot into a sentence exactly like velik ("big") or nov ("new"). This single fact — ordinals are adjectives — explains everything else on this page, including the way Croatian writes them with a simple period.

The basic ordinals 1st-10th

#	Ordinal (masc.)	English
1.	prvi	first
2.	drugi	second
3.	treći	third
4.	četvrti	fourth
5.	peti	fifth
6.	šesti	sixth
7.	sedmi	seventh
8.	osmi	eighth
9.	deveti	ninth
10.	deseti	tenth

The first four are the irregular ones you simply memorise: prvi, drugi, treći, četvrti bear little resemblance to the cardinals jedan, dva, tri, četiri. From peti (5th) onward they are transparently built on the cardinal stem plus an adjective ending. Note that drugi also means "other / another" — context tells the two apart.

Ovo je moj prvi posjet Zagrebu.

This is my first visit to Zagreb. — 'prvi' agrees with masculine 'posjet'.

Sjedimo u trećem redu.

We're sitting in the third row. — 'trećem', locative of 'treći' after 'u'.

Stigla je druga na utrci.

She came second in the race. — feminine 'druga' agreeing with the implied 'she'.

Teens, tens, and the big ones

The higher ordinals are formed by adding the adjective ending -i to the cardinal: jedanaesti (11th), dvanaesti (12th), dvadeseti (20th), trideseti (30th), stoti (100th), tisućiti (1000th).

#	Ordinal
11.	jedanaesti
12.	dvanaesti
20.	dvadeseti
30.	trideseti
100.	stoti
1000.	tisućiti

Slavimo dvadeseti rođendan.

We're celebrating a twentieth birthday. — 'dvadeseti' agrees with 'rođendan'.

To je bio stoti gol u njegovoj karijeri.

That was the hundredth goal of his career. — 'stoti', the ordinal of 'sto'.

Ordinals are adjectives — so they decline

This is the heart of the matter. An ordinal takes whatever case its noun is in, with hard-adjective endings (see hard adjective declension). Prvi dan (nominative), prvog dana (genitive), na prvom katu (locative), prvim vlakom (instrumental). You cannot leave an ordinal in its dictionary form the way you can a cardinal like pet.

Stan je na prvom katu.

The flat is on the first floor. — 'prvom', locative after 'na'.

Od prvog dana sve je išlo po planu.

From the first day everything went to plan. — 'prvog dana', genitive after 'od'.

Putujemo prvim jutarnjim vlakom.

We're travelling on the first morning train. — 'prvim', instrumental.

💡

Because ordinals decline, the same "5." on a page can be read several ways depending on the case the sentence needs. On a door, "5. kat" is the nominative peti kat; in a date, "5. svibnja" is the genitive petog svibnja ("of the fifth of May"). The orthography hides the agreement — you must supply the right ending when you read it aloud.

Compound ordinals: only the last word inflects

In a compound ordinal, only the final element becomes an ordinal; everything before it stays a plain cardinal. So "twenty-first" is dvadeset prvi — dvadeset is the ordinary cardinal, only prvi is the ordinal and only prvi declines. "One hundred and thirteenth" is sto trinaesti.

Danas je dvadeset prvog lipnja.

Today is the twenty-first of June. — a date puts the day-ordinal in the genitive ('prvog'); only the last word, 'prvi → prvog', inflects, 'dvadeset' stays cardinal.

Živi na adresi broj sto dvadeset treći.

He lives at number one hundred twenty-third. — only the last word, 'treći', is the ordinal.

To je njezin trideset peti rođendan.

That's her thirty-fifth birthday. — 'trideset peti', only 'peti' inflects.

Writing ordinals: the period is the ordinal marker

Croatian writes an ordinal as a numeral followed by a period: 1. = prvi, 5. = peti, 21. = dvadeset prvi. That period is not decoration and not the end of a sentence — it is the orthographic sign that the number is an ordinal and must be read as a fully-declining adjective. This is why dates, floors, chapters, and rankings all sprout periods.

Written	Read as	Meaning
1.	prvi	first / 1st
razred	peti razred	fifth grade
kat	treći kat	third floor
21.	dvadeset prvi	twenty-first
svibnja	osmog svibnja	(on) the eighth of May (genitive)

Rođen sam 8. svibnja.

I was born on the 8th of May. — '8.' is read 'osmog', the genitive ordinal.

Pročitaj 3. poglavlje za sutra.

Read the 3rd chapter for tomorrow. — '3.' = 'treće', neuter accusative agreeing with 'poglavlje'.

Dates, floors, and rankings

Ordinals carry the everyday machinery of order. In dates, the day is an ordinal in the genitive ("of the Nth"), and the month name is genitive too — covered in depth on time and dates. In rankings, you take prvo / drugo / treće mjesto ("first/second/third place"). For floors, the ground floor is prizemlje and the floors above are prvi kat, drugi kat — so the Croatian "first floor" is the level above the ground, as in British usage.

Hrvatska je osvojila drugo mjesto na Svjetskom prvenstvu.

Croatia took second place at the World Cup. — 'drugo mjesto', neuter ordinal.

Sastanak je zakazan za petnaesti lipnja.

The meeting is scheduled for the fifteenth of June. — 'petnaesti', the ordinal of 'petnaest'.

Stanujem na trećem katu, a oni u prizemlju.

I live on the third floor, and they on the ground floor. — 'trećem katu' vs 'prizemlju'.

Comparison with English

English ordinals are nearly invariant — only the suffix changes (first, second… twenty-first) and the word never agrees with anything. Croatian ordinals are full adjectives that change ending for gender and case in every slot, which is a larger learning load but also more regular once you accept it. English also writes ordinals with letter suffixes (1st, 2nd, 3rd); Croatian uses a bare period (1., 2., 3.), so a lone "5." in a Croatian text is peti, never the cardinal "5." Finally, English says "first floor" for the ground level in American usage; Croatian's prvi kat is one storey up, matching British counting.

Common Mistakes

❌ Sjedim u treći red.

Incorrect — the ordinal must take the locative case after 'u' (location): 'u trećem redu'.

✅ Sjedim u trećem redu.

I'm sitting in the third row. — 'trećem redu', locative.

❌ Danas je dvadeset i prvi peti.

Marked/colloquial for a date — read the day as a genitive ordinal + the genitive month name: 'dvadeset prvog svibnja' (or 21. 5.).

✅ Danas je dvadeset prvog svibnja.

Today is the twenty-first of May. — the day-ordinal is genitive 'prvog', matching the genitive month.

❌ To je njezin dvadeseti prvi rođendan.

Incorrect — in a compound ordinal only the LAST word is ordinal: 'dvadeset prvi'.

✅ To je njezin dvadeset prvi rođendan.

That's her twenty-first birthday. — 'dvadeset' stays cardinal, 'prvi' is the ordinal.

❌ Rođen sam 8 svibnja.

Incorrect — the day is an ordinal and is written with a period: '8. svibnja' (read 'osmog svibnja').

✅ Rođen sam 8. svibnja.

I was born on the 8th of May. — the period marks the ordinal.

❌ Živimo na drugi kat.

Incorrect — location takes the locative: 'na drugom katu'.

✅ Živimo na drugom katu.

We live on the second floor. — 'drugom katu', locative after 'na'.

Key Takeaways

The irregular core is prvi, drugi, treći, četvrti; from peti the ordinals are built on the cardinal stem + -i.
Ordinals are adjectives: they decline fully and agree (prvi dan, prvog dana, na prvom katu).
In a compound ordinal only the last word inflects (dvadeset prvi, sto trinaesti).
Written as a numeral + period (1. = prvi); a date's "8." is read as the genitive osmog.
Dates use the genitive ordinal; prvi kat is one floor above the ground.

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