You have learned how to form Dutch ordinals — eerste, tweede, derde, vierde and the -de/-ste pattern. This page is about where they actually earn their keep: in dates, in rankings and league tables, in the names of kings and queens, and in centuries. These are the contexts where a learner who knows the forms still gets it wrong, because the rules for when to reach for an ordinal differ from English. The headline facts: spoken dates take an ordinal even though the written date is a bare number; centuries take an ordinal; and the abbreviation is 1e, not the English 1st.
Dates: written as a number, spoken as an ordinal
This is the rule that surprises everyone. A Dutch date is written with a plain cardinal — 1 mei, 27 april, 5 december — with no suffix at all. But it is spoken as de + ordinal + month: 1 mei is read aloud de eerste mei, and 27 april is read de zevenentwintigste april. So the page says one thing and your mouth says another.
| Written | Spoken | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1 mei | de eerste mei | the first of May |
| 3 maart | de derde maart | the third of March |
| 27 april | de zevenentwintigste april | the twenty-seventh of April |
| 31 december | de eenendertigste december | the thirty-first of December |
Note that the month is not capitalised in Dutch (mei, april), and the date order is day-then-month, as across Europe.
Koningsdag is op 27 april.
King's Day is on 27 April. (written as a number, but read 'de zevenentwintigste april')
We zijn getrouwd op 1 mei; dat lezen we als 'de eerste mei'.
We got married on 1 May; we read that as 'the first of May'.
De vergadering staat gepland voor de derde juni.
The meeting is scheduled for the third of June.
Rankings and league tables
Ordinals are the natural language of competition. To say someone came in a position, Dutch uses the ordinal as a noun-modifier or, very idiomatically, drops the noun entirely: hij werd derde ("he came third") needs no plaats.
| Dutch | English |
|---|---|
| de eerste plaats | first place |
| de tweede plaats | second place |
| hij werd derde | he came third |
| de top tien | the top ten |
| de top drie | the top three |
Two things to notice. First, hij werd derde — "he became third" — uses the bare ordinal with no article and no noun; this is the standard sports phrasing. Second, de top tien uses a cardinal (tien), not an ordinal: the "top ten" counts a group of ten, so the number is cardinal, exactly as in English.
Nederland eindigde op de tweede plaats achter Frankrijk.
The Netherlands finished in second place behind France.
Hij werd derde in de tijdrit, vlak achter zijn ploeggenoot.
He came third in the time trial, just behind his teammate. (bare ordinal, no 'plaats')
Het nummer staat al weken in de top tien.
The song has been in the top ten for weeks. (cardinal 'tien' for the group of ten)
Kings and queens: Willem de Tweede
Monarchs and popes take an ordinal after their name, introduced by de: Willem de Tweede (William II), Beatrix — well, reigning royals who share a name with predecessors carry the ordinal, and it is read as a full ordinal, never as Roman-numeral letters. Written, you may see Willem II, but it is read Willem de Tweede.
| Written | Spoken | English |
|---|---|---|
| Willem II | Willem de Tweede | William II |
| Willem-Alexander | Willem-Alexander | (current king, no numeral — first of his name) |
| Karel V | Karel de Vijfde | Charles V |
| Lodewijk XIV | Lodewijk de Veertiende | Louis XIV |
Karel de Vijfde regeerde over een enorm rijk.
Charles V ruled over an enormous empire. (Karel V → Karel de Vijfde)
Het standbeeld stelt Willem de Eerste voor, de Vader des Vaderlands.
The statue depicts William I, the Father of the Fatherland. (de Eerste, read aloud)
Centuries: de 21e eeuw
A century is named with an ordinal, exactly as in English ("the 21st century"). The catch for learners is the temptation to use a cardinal. The 21st century is de eenentwintigste eeuw, abbreviated de 21e eeuw — note the e suffix, not the English st.
In de eenentwintigste eeuw is alles digitaal geworden.
In the twenty-first century everything has gone digital. (ordinal 'eenentwintigste')
Het schilderij dateert uit de zeventiende eeuw.
The painting dates from the seventeenth century.
De industriële revolutie begon in de 18e eeuw.
The Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century. (read 'de achttiende eeuw')
The abbreviation: 1e, 2e, 3e
Dutch abbreviates an ordinal by writing the number followed by a small e — the last letter(s) of the spelled-out ordinal: 1e (eerste), 2e (tweede), 3e (derde), 21e (eenentwintigste). You will also see 1ste, 2de, 3de with the fuller ending, but the bare -e form is the most common and is the official recommendation. Never use the English 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th in Dutch text — those suffixes do not exist in Dutch.
Hij zit in de 3e klas van de middelbare school.
He's in the third year of secondary school. (3e = derde)
Wij wonen op de 2e verdieping.
We live on the second floor. (2e = tweede)
Common Mistakes
❌ De industriële revolutie begon in de achttien eeuw.
Incorrect — centuries take an ordinal, not a cardinal.
✅ De industriële revolutie begon in de achttiende eeuw.
The Industrial Revolution began in the eighteenth century.
❌ Hij zit in de 1st klas.
Incorrect — Dutch ordinals abbreviate with '-e', never the English '-st'.
✅ Hij zit in de 1e klas.
He's in the first year. (1e = eerste)
❌ We trouwen op de eerste van mei.
Incorrect — no 'van' in the spoken date; the ordinal sits directly before the month.
✅ We trouwen op de eerste mei.
We're getting married on the first of May.
❌ Karel de vijf regeerde lang.
Incorrect — a monarch's number is an ordinal: 'de Vijfde', not the cardinal 'vijf'.
✅ Karel de Vijfde regeerde lang.
Charles V reigned for a long time.
❌ Het nummer staat in de top tiende.
Incorrect — 'top ten' counts a group of ten, so it's the cardinal 'tien'.
✅ Het nummer staat in de top tien.
The song is in the top ten.
Key Takeaways
- Dates are written as a bare cardinal (1 mei) but spoken as de + ordinal + month (de eerste mei) — and the month is lowercase.
- Rankings use ordinals, often with no noun (hij werd derde); but top tien / top drie use a cardinal for the group.
- Monarchs take an ordinal after de (Karel de Vijfde), read in full even when written Karel V.
- Centuries take an ordinal (de eenentwintigste eeuw) — never a cardinal.
- The abbreviation is 1e / 2e / 3e (or 1ste/2de/3de), never the English 1st/2nd/3rd.
Now practice Dutch
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- Ordinal Numbers: Eerste, Tweede, DerdeA2 — How Dutch builds ordinals — the -de ending up to nineteen, the -ste ending from twenty up, the irregulars eerste, derde and achtste, and how ordinals inflect like adjectives in dates and lists.
- Telling Time and DatesA2 — How Dutch tells the clock — the half-hour trap (half drie = 2:30, not 3:30), kwart over/voor, the 'over/voor half' system, the 24-hour clock — and how to say and write dates.
- Cardinal Numbers 0–100 and BeyondA1 — The full Dutch cardinal number system — 0–20, the units-before-tens reversal for 21–99 written as one solid word, and honderd, duizend, miljoen, miljard for big numbers.
- Large Numbers: Duizend, Miljoen, Miljard (the Billion Trap)B1 — How Dutch builds big numbers — honderd, duizend, miljoen and the long-scale miljard (= English billion) — plus reading years, the point-as-thousands-separator convention, and the false-friend trap that turns 'billion' into 'biljoen'.
- Prepositions of Time: Om, Op, In, TijdensA2 — Dutch slices time across four main prepositions — om for clock times (om drie uur), op for days and dates (op maandag, op 5 mei), in for months, years, seasons and parts of the day (in mei, in 2025, in de zomer), and tijdens for events (tijdens de vergadering) — plus met for holidays and the genitive 's-forms (’s ochtends, ’s avonds). The biggest trap for English speakers is reaching for op or in with a clock time, where Dutch requires om.