Cardinal numbers (jeden, dva, pět) count how many; ordinal numbers (první, druhý, třetí) say which one in a sequence. The single most important fact about Czech ordinals is that they are adjectives, not number-nouns — which means they agree with their noun in gender, number, and case, exactly like malý or jarní. Get that one idea, and the rest is just a list to memorise and a couple of compounding rules.
The basic list
| # | Ordinal | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | první | soft (jarní type) |
| 2nd | druhý | hard (mladý type) |
| 3rd | třetí | soft |
| 4th | čtvrtý | hard |
| 5th | pátý | hard |
| 6th | šestý | hard |
| 7th | sedmý | hard |
| 8th | osmý | hard |
| 9th | devátý | hard |
| 10th | desátý | hard |
| 20th | dvacátý | hard |
| 100th | stý | hard |
| 1000th | tisící | soft |
Almost all ordinals are hard adjectives ending in -ý / -á / -é. The three exceptions are první, třetí, and tisící, which are soft and end in -í in every gender of the nominative singular. Knowing the type tells you which set of endings to use, so it is worth pinning down early — the full paradigms are on the hard mladý and soft jarní pages.
They decline — agree like any adjective
Because ordinals are adjectives, they take the full adjective endings and must match their noun. This is where English speakers slip, because English ordinals are frozen ("the first day, on the first day, of the first day" — first never changes). In Czech, every case shows on the ordinal.
Watch první (soft), druhý (hard), and třetí (soft) move through several cases:
| Phrase | Case | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| první den | nom. m. | the first day |
| na prvním místě | loc. n. | in first place |
| třetího dne | gen. m. | on the third day |
| ve druhé třídě | loc. f. | in second grade |
| do druhého patra | gen. n. | up to the second floor |
Bydlíme ve druhém patře, výtah je vlevo.
We live on the second floor, the lift is on the left.
Náš tým skončil na prvním místě.
Our team finished in first place.
Třetího dne se počasí konečně umoudřilo.
On the third day the weather finally calmed down.
Sejdeme se v pondělí v první hodině.
We'll meet on Monday in the first lesson.
Compound ordinals — the last group carries it
For numbers like 21st or 123rd, Czech marks ordinality on the tens and units, and both of those parts take ordinal form and decline. The hundreds and thousands stay in their plain cardinal shape (sto, tisíc). This is the mirror image of compound cardinals, where only the very last element decided the noun's form.
| # | Czech ordinal |
|---|---|
| 21st | dvacátý první |
| 32nd | třicátý druhý |
| 123rd | sto dvacátý třetí |
| 1999th | tisíc devět set devadesátý devátý |
Compare the cardinal sto dvacet tři (123, all cardinal) with the ordinal sto dvacátý třetí (123rd): the dvacet becomes ordinal dvacátý and tři becomes ordinal třetí, while sto is unchanged. And when the whole phrase declines, every ordinal element declines together:
Karel Čtvrtý založil pražskou univerzitu.
Charles the Fourth founded Prague's university.
Žijeme ve dvacátém prvním století.
We live in the twenty-first century.
Stalo se to dvacátého prvního srpna.
It happened on the twenty-first of August.
In that last example both dvacátého and prvního sit in the genitive — neither part is allowed to freeze. This is the most common compound-ordinal error: declining only the final word and leaving the tens in the nominative.
The digit-plus-period notation
In writing, Czech marks an ordinal by putting a full stop (period) after the digit. So 1. is read první, 3. is třetí, 21. is dvacátý první, and 123. is sto dvacátý třetí. That period is not a sentence-ender — it is the ordinal marker, which is exactly why Czech dates look like 1. 1. (the first of January) and floors are signed 2. patro.
| Written | Read aloud |
|---|---|
| první místo |
| třetí patro |
| dvacáté první století |
| pátého prosince |
Dneska máme 21. března, první jarní den.
Today is the 21st of March, the first day of spring.
Jeho kancelář je ve 3. patře.
His office is on the third floor.
This notation links straight into the practical topics that use ordinals: dates, telling the time, and years.
Common Mistakes
❌ Bydlíme na třetí patro.
Incorrect — a static location takes the locative, and the ordinal must agree: ve třetím patře.
✅ Bydlíme ve třetím patře.
We live on the third floor.
❌ Stalo se to dvacet první srpna.
Incorrect — in an ordinal the tens word is ordinal too and declines: dvacátého prvního.
✅ Stalo se to dvacátého prvního srpna.
It happened on the twenty-first of August.
❌ na první místo skončil náš tým
Incorrect — 'finish in (a) place' is a static position → locative: na prvním místě.
✅ Na prvním místě skončil náš tým.
Our team finished in first place.
❌ Žijeme v dvacátý první století.
Incorrect — the ordinals must take the locative neuter endings: ve dvacátém prvním století.
✅ Žijeme ve dvacátém prvním století.
We live in the twenty-first century.
Key Takeaways
- Ordinals are adjectives: they agree with their noun in gender, number, and case (na prvním místě, ve druhé třídě, třetího dne).
- Most are hard (-ý/-á/-é); the soft exceptions are první, třetí, tisící (-í).
- In compound ordinals the tens and units are both ordinal and both decline (dvacátý první → dvacátého prvního); hundreds/thousands keep the cardinal form (sto dvacátý třetí).
- A period after a digit marks an ordinal in writing:
- = první, 21. = dvacátý první
Now practice Czech
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- DatesA2 — Saying and writing dates with the genitive ordinal: prvního ledna, in years and the day-month genitive.
- Telling the TimeA2 — Hodin/hodiny agreement, half/quarter expressions (půl, čtvrt), and the 24-hour system.
- Reading YearsB1 — How Czech says years (devatenáct set, dva tisíce dvacet čtyři) and the 'in the year' construction.
- Hard Adjectives: the -ý/-á/-é PatternA2 — The largest Czech adjective class — model mladý — agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case, with the long vowels -ého, -ému, -ým as its signature.
- Soft Adjectives: the -í PatternA2 — The soft adjective class — model jarní — uses a single -í ending for masculine, feminine, and neuter alike, giving it far fewer distinct forms than the hard type.