Ordinal Numbers | Danish Grammar

Ordinal numbers answer which one in the order? — first, second, third. In Danish they are mostly built with a predictable ending, but the first few are suppletive: første (first) and anden (second) bear no resemblance to en (one) and to (two), exactly as English first and second don't resemble one and two. So the strategy is: memorise the low handful, then ride the regular pattern from about fjerde onward. One extra wrinkle makes Danish ordinals different from English: anden changes its form to agree with the gender of the noun.

The first twelve

Here is the core list you must know cold. Notice that the period is part of how ordinals are written: 1. means første, not one.

Digit	Ordinal	English
1.	første	first
2.	anden / andet	second
3.	tredje	third
4.	fjerde	fourth
5.	femte	fifth
6.	sjette	sixth
7.	syvende	seventh
8.	ottende	eighth
9.	niende	ninth
10.	tiende	tenth
11.	ellevte	eleventh
12.	tolvte	twelfth

Det er min første gang i Danmark.

It's my first time in Denmark.

Han kom ind som tredje i løbet.

He came in third in the race.

Vi sidder på fjerde række.

We're sitting in the fourth row.

The regular pattern from the teens up

From the teens onward, ordinals are formed regularly from the cardinal by adding -ende (for most numbers) or -te (for a smaller set). You don't need to agonise over which suffix; the everyday teens and tens settle into fixed shapes you'll recognise quickly:

Digit	Ordinal	English
13.	trettende	thirteenth
14.	fjortende	fourteenth
15.	femtende	fifteenth
16.	sekstende	sixteenth
17.	syttende	seventeenth
18.	attende	eighteenth
19.	nittende	nineteenth
20.	tyvende	twentieth

Min bedstefar fylder firs den syttende november.

My grandfather turns eighty on the seventeenth of November.

The vigesimal tens: real, but avoided in speech

Danish's notorious base-twenty tens (see the vigesimal page) do have ordinal forms, and they are mouthfuls: halvtredsindstyvende (50th), tresindstyvende (60th), and so on. They are grammatically correct but almost no one says them aloud — speakers reach for a paraphrase or simply write the digit. You should be able to recognise halvtredsindstyvende if you meet it in a formal text, but you will rarely produce it.

Digit	Full ordinal	English
50.	halvtredsindstyvende	fiftieth
60.	tresindstyvende	sixtieth
100.	hundrede(nde)	hundredth

💡

The huge vigesimal ordinals (halvtredsindstyvende = 50th) are real but practically frozen — recognise them in writing, but in speech people say the digit or rephrase. Don't waste effort drilling them for production.

The anden / andet agreement

Here is the feature that has no English parallel. Anden ("second", but also "other / another") is the one ordinal that agrees in gender with its noun, just like an adjective. Danish nouns are either common gender (en-words) or neuter (et-words), and anden changes accordingly:

anden with a common-gender (en) noun
andet with a neuter (et) noun

Gender	Indefinite	Definite
common (en)	en anden bog	den anden bog
neuter (et)	et andet hus	det andet hus

Jeg har læst den anden bog, men ikke det andet kapitel.

I've read the second book, but not the second chapter.

Kan jeg få et andet glas? Det her er snavset.

Can I have another glass? This one is dirty.

Vi mødtes igen den anden dag.

We met again the second day / the other day.

Note that this anden/andet word also means other/another, so context decides. Every other ordinal (første, tredje, fjerde...) is invariable — it never changes for gender or number, unlike a normal adjective.

Writing ordinals: the period

Danish marks an ordinal in writing by putting a period after the digit, where English uses superscript letters (1st, 2nd). This is why a Danish date looks like 1. maj — the period there is not a full stop but an ordinal marker, read første.

Vi fejrer arbejdernes dag den 1. maj.

We celebrate Labour Day on the 1st of May.

Bogen udkommer i sin 2. udgave.

The book is coming out in its 2nd edition.

Ordering arguments: for det første, for det andet

Ordinals also build the "firstly / secondly" connectors you need to structure an argument. The frame is for det + ordinal (neuter, because det is neuter): for det første (firstly), for det andet (secondly), for det tredje (thirdly).

Jeg vil ikke med — for det første er jeg træt, og for det andet regner det.

I don't want to come — firstly I'm tired, and secondly it's raining.

Common Mistakes

1. Regularising første as if it derived from en.

❌ Det er den ente gang.

Incorrect — first is suppletive: første, not a regular form of en.

✅ Det er den første gang.

It's the first time.

2. Regularising anden from to.

❌ Han bor på tote sal.

Incorrect — second is anden/andet, not built from to.

✅ Han bor på anden sal.

He lives on the second floor.

3. Failing to agree anden with a neuter noun.

❌ Vi tager det anden tog.

Incorrect — tog is neuter (et tog), so the ordinal must be andet.

✅ Vi tager det andet tog.

We'll take the second train.

4. Writing dates without the ordinal period.

❌ Mødet er den 5 maj.

Incorrect — the ordinal needs a period: 5. maj (femte).

✅ Mødet er den 5. maj.

The meeting is on the 5th of May.

5. Using a cardinal where an ordinal is required.

❌ Han blev nummer tre... nej, han blev tre.

Incorrect — for ranking you need the ordinal tredje, not the cardinal tre.

✅ Han blev nummer tre — altså den tredje.

He came third.

Key Takeaways

Memorise the suppletive low forms: første (1st) and anden/andet (2nd) don't come from en/to.
From fjerde up, the pattern is regular (-ende / -te).
anden → andet before a neuter (et) noun; all other ordinals are invariable.
Write ordinals with a period after the digit (maj
= første maj).
The vigesimal ordinals (halvtredsindstyvende) are real but spoken rarely — recognise, don't drill.

Now practice Danish

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Danish→