Cardinal numbers answer “how many?”; ordinals locate something in an ordered sequence: first floor, second attempt, third time. In Egyptian Arabic, the basic ordinals behave like adjectives: they normally follow the noun, agree with it in gender, and repeat the definite article when the noun is definite.
The forms here are mainstream Cairene (informal) speech. Formal MSA preserves ث in words such as الثالث and adds case endings in careful syntax. Cairene normally has تالت with /t/ and no case ending; formal and performance-language forms are labeled rather than treated as mistakes.
The Basic Ordinals: 1–10
The masculine and feminine pairs are not all predictable from the cardinals, especially أول/أولى and تاني/تانية. Learn each frequent pair as vocabulary.
| Order | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| first | أول awwil | أولى ūla |
| second | تاني tāni | تانية tānya |
| third | تالت tālit | تالتة talta |
| fourth | رابع rābiʿ | رابعة rabʿa |
| fifth | خامس khāmis | خامسة khamsa |
| sixth | سادس sādis | سادسة sadsa |
| seventh | سابع sābiʿ | سابعة sabʿa |
| eighth | تامن tāmin | تامنة tamna |
| ninth | تاسع tāsiʿ | تاسعة tasʿa |
| tenth | عاشر ʿāshir | عاشرة ʿashra |
مكتبنا في الدور التالت.
maktabna fi d-dōr it-tālit
Our office is on the third floor.
دي تالت مرة أغير الميعاد.
di tālit marra aghayyar il-mīʿād
This is the third time I've changed the appointment.
The first phrase has masculine الدور, so it takes التالت. The second has feminine مرة, but colloquial preposed تالت مرة is a fixed, very common sequence-label structure; postnominal المرة التالتة shows overt feminine agreement. Word order changes how the phrase packages definiteness and discourse status.
Rule 1: Postnominal Ordinals Agree Like Adjectives
After a definite noun, the ordinal is definite too. It agrees in gender with the singular noun whose position is being identified.
قابلته في المرة التالتة.
ʾābiltu fi l-marra t-talta
I met him on the third occasion.
الفصل الخامس أقصر من الفصل الرابع.
il-faṣl il-khāmis aʾṣar min il-faṣl ir-rābiʿ
The fifth chapter is shorter than the fourth chapter.
The second example compares two masculine nouns, so both ordinals are masculine. This is adjective agreement, not a counted-noun construction: الفصل الخامس means one chapter located fifth in a sequence, not five chapters.
Rule 2: First and Other Preposed Sequence Labels
Egyptian frequently places an ordinal before a bare noun in expressions such as أول مرة، تاني يوم، تالت محاولة. The entire phrase is interpreted as a unique point in an understood sequence even without الـ.
أول مرة سافرت لوحدي كنت عندي عشرين سنة.
awwil marra sāfirt liwaḥdi kunt ʿandi ʿishrīn sana
The first time I traveled alone, I was twenty years old.
تاني يوم المدير كلمني بدري.
tāni yōm il-mudīr kallimni badri
The next day, the manager called me early.
In أول مرة, ordinary Cairene uses masculine-looking أول before feminine مرة. Compare the postnominal, explicitly agreeing phrase المرة الأولى, which is grammatical but often sounds more careful or formal. This is a genuine constructional asymmetry; forcing feminine أولى into every preposed phrase would erase a central colloquial pattern.
دي المرة الأولى اللي أزور فيها أسوان.
di l-marra l-ūla illi azūr fīha Aswān
This is the first time I've visited Aswan.
The postnominal version is useful when the ordinal itself is contrastive or when the style is more deliberate.
Rule 3: Above Ten, Everyday Egyptian Often Reuses Cardinals
From eleven upward, Egyptian commonly uses the ordinary cardinal form after a definite noun to express rank. The article on the number marks its adjectival role.
هو ساكن في الدور الحداشر.
huwwa sākin fi d-dōr il-ḥidāshar
He lives on the eleventh floor.
اسمها جه في المركز العشرين.
ismaha gih fi l-markaz il-ʿishrīn
Her name came in twentieth place.
Formal MSA uses dedicated complex ordinals and case-sensitive endings. Everyday Cairo can instead treat حداشر and عشرين as definite rank adjectives. Official awards, news, legal language, and ceremonial announcements may style-shift toward MSA.
For addresses and numbered objects, Egyptian also uses a label rather than an ordinal: شقة خمسة وعشرين “apartment 25.” A label identifies a number printed on something; an ordinal says where it falls in a sequence.
إحنا في شقة خمسة وعشرين، مش في الشقة الخامسة.
iḥna fi shaʾʾa khamsa wi-ʿishrīn، mish fi sh-shaʾʾa l-khāmsa
We're in apartment 25, not in the fifth apartment.
Rule 4: Clock Hours Use Cardinals, Not Ordinals
Formal Arabic descriptions of hours can use ordinals, but everyday Egyptian tells clock time with cardinal forms after الساعة.
الميعاد التاني الساعة كام؟ — الساعة خمسة.
il-mīʿād it-tāni is-sāʿa kām؟ — is-sāʿa khamsa
What time is the second appointment? — Five o'clock.
Here التاني ranks the appointment, while خمسة names the hour. The two kinds of number coexist because they answer different questions. See clock time for the full hour-and-minute system.
Rule 5: Prices Can Select an Ordered Item
An ordinal can identify which version, ticket, or option is being priced; the price itself remains cardinal.
النسخة التانية بكام؟ — بميت جنيه.
in-nuskha t-tānya bi-kām؟ — bi-mīt ginēh
How much is the second version? — One hundred pounds.
The feminine ordinal agrees with النسخة. The price expression follows the separate rules for hundreds and takes singular جنيه.
Careful and Fast Speech
Everyday Cairene compresses unstressed vowels in feminine ordinals: تالتة is talta, خامسة is khamsa, and سادسة is sadsa. A careful, MSA-influenced performance may restore fuller vowels or formal ثالثة with /th/. The ordinary written target remains the colloquial form, while the romanization records the reduced Cairo pronunciation.
وصلت للمحاولة السادسة قبل ما أنجح.
wiṣilt lil-muḥāwala s-sadsa ʾabl ma angaḥ
I got to the sixth attempt before I succeeded.
Register and Variation
The Cairene تالت، تامن forms reflect the normal Egyptian outcomes of historical ث. Learned words, recitation, news performance, and formal schooling may use /th/ and MSA morphology. Regional Egyptian varieties can preserve or reshape different sounds; this page does not flatten Upper Egyptian, Bedouin, Delta, Alexandrian, class, age, or community usage into the Cairo baseline.
Common Mistakes
Using a cardinal where an ordinal rank is required
❌ مكتبنا في الدور تلاتة.
Incorrect for ‘the third floor’ as a rank; تلاتة is a cardinal label, not the agreeing ordinal.
✅ مكتبنا في الدور التالت.
maktabna fi d-dōr it-tālit
Our office is on the third floor.
Ignoring feminine agreement
❌ دي المرة التالت.
Incorrect — a postnominal ordinal agrees with feminine مرة.
✅ دي المرة التالتة.
di l-marra t-talta
This is the third time.
Copying English adjective order into a definite phrase
❌ قابلته في التالت الدور.
Incorrect — the definite ordinal follows the noun in this adjective phrase.
✅ قابلته في الدور التالت.
ʾābiltu fi d-dōr it-tālit
I met him on the third floor.
الساعة الخامسة is not ungrammatical: it is a formal or ordinal “the fifth hour.” For an ordinary Cairene clock reading, the neutral choice is الفيلم هيبدأ الساعة خمسة “The movie will start at five.”
Key Takeaways
- Basic ordinals are adjectives: الدور التالت، المرة التالتة.
- Preposed sequence labels such as أول مرة and تاني يوم form a common colloquial pattern.
- Above ten, Egyptian often reuses a definite cardinal as a rank expression.
- A printed number label is not necessarily an ordinal.
- Everyday clock time uses cardinals, while ordinal forms rank appointments, attempts, floors, and similar sequences.
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