Ordinal Numbers: ensimmäinen, toinen, kolmas | Finnish Grammar

Ordinals are the words for first, second, third — the ones that put things in order. In Finnish they matter far more than the cardinal counting numbers do for one very practical reason: you need them for every calendar date, and dates come up constantly. This page presents the series from first to tenth, shows you which two forms you simply have to memorise, and reveals the tidy pattern that runs through the rest. How these words then bend to agree with their noun — because they behave like adjectives — is the job of the next page, Forming and Declining Ordinals.

The series from first to tenth

Here are the ten ordinals side by side with the cardinal they correspond to. The final column gives the genitive (the "of" form), because that is the shape you meet the moment an ordinal appears in a real sentence — and it looks surprisingly different from the dictionary form.

#	Cardinal	Ordinal (basic)	Genitive	English
1.	yksi	ensimmäinen	ensimmäisen	first
2.	kaksi	toinen	toisen	second
3.	kolme	kolmas	kolmannen	third
4.	neljä	neljäs	neljännen	fourth
5.	viisi	viides	viidennen	fifth
6.	kuusi	kuudes	kuudennen	sixth
7.	seitsemän	seitsemäs	seitsemännen	seventh
8.	kahdeksan	kahdeksas	kahdeksannen	eighth
9.	yhdeksän	yhdeksäs	yhdeksännen	ninth
10.	kymmenen	kymmenes	kymmenennen	tenth

Notice the shape of that middle column from kolmas down: every one of them ends in -s. That single letter is the ordinal marker, the exact counterpart of English -th in four-th, six-th, ten-th. Once you see it, the whole lower series stops being ten words to learn and becomes one rule with ten outputs.

First and second are irregular — memorise them as a pair

English speakers already expect this, because one → first and two → second are just as irregular in English as they are in Finnish. Ensimmäinen ("first") has no visible connection to yksi, and toinen ("second") has none to kaksi. Linguists call this suppletion: the ordinal is supplied by a completely different root rather than built from the cardinal. There is no logic to reconstruct here — treat the pair as two vocabulary items and move on.

Kuka oli ensimmäinen ihminen kuussa?

Who was the first human on the Moon?

Tämä on jo kolmas kahvikuppini tänään.

This is already my third cup of coffee today.

Se oli hänen kymmenes maratoninsa.

It was her tenth marathon.

💡

Do not try to build a "regular" first or second by analogy. There is no *yksis and no *kaksis — those are non-words. The only forms are ensimmäinen and toinen.

From third up: the cardinal plus -s

From kolmas onward, the ordinal is the cardinal's stem with -s stuck on the end — but the cardinal usually loses its final vowel first:

kolme → kolmas (the -e drops)
neljä → neljäs
viisi → viides
kuusi → kuudes (with the regular s → d softening you also see in kuusi → kuuden)

For the numbers that already end in -n (seitsemän, kahdeksan, yhdeksän, kymmenen), the -n simply gives way to -s: seitsemäs, kahdeksas, yhdeksäs, kymmenes.

Because the ordinal is built on the cardinal, it inherits that word's vowel harmony. Neljä is a front-vowel word, so its ordinal is neljäs with the front vowel intact; kolme and kymmenen have no back vowels to worry about and stay as they are. You never have to decide the harmony of an ordinal separately — it is already fixed by the cardinal underneath it. (If the harmony system is new to you, start with Front, Back and Neutral Vowels.)

Otan viidennen palan pizzaa.

I'll take the fifth slice of pizza.

Hän tuli maaliin toisena.

She finished second (crossed the line second).

Asun neljännessä kerroksessa.

I live on the fourth floor.

Reading a date out loud

The single most common place a beginner meets ordinals is a written date. In Finnish, a figure followed by a full stop is read as an ordinal — the period is literally the spoken -s:

5. → viides
1. → ensimmäinen
3. → kolmas

So the date 5.12. ("the fifth of December") begins with viides, and a doctor calling "next, please" for patient number three says kolmas. The full grammar of how a date is assembled — which cases the day and month take — is covered on Dates and the Calendar; here, just lock in that the period turns a number into an ordinal.

Monesko päivä tänään on? — Viides.

What's the date today? (literally 'how-manieth day') — The fifth.

Istun aina samalla paikalla, ensimmäisessä rivissä.

I always sit in the same seat, in the first row.

💡

Finnish has a dedicated question word for ordinals: monesko, "the how-manieth?" English has to paraphrase ("which one in order?"), but Finnish asks it in a single word — and you answer with a bare ordinal: Monesko? — Kolmas.

Common Mistakes

1. Inventing a regular "first" or "second."

❌ Tämä on minun yksis kertani täällä.

Incorrect — *yksis is not a word.

✅ Tämä on minun ensimmäinen kertani täällä.

This is my first time here.

2. Adding -s without dropping the cardinal's final vowel.

❌ Tämä on kolmes yritys.

Incorrect — *kolmes keeps the -e of kolme.

✅ Tämä on kolmas yritys.

This is the third attempt.

3. Flattening the harmony of the cardinal underneath.

❌ Hän asuu neljas kerroksessa.

Incorrect — neljä is a front-vowel word, so 'a' must be 'ä'.

✅ Hän asuu neljännessä kerroksessa.

She lives on the fourth floor.

4. Using a cardinal where the calendar needs an ordinal.

❌ Tänään on viisi joulukuuta.

Incorrect — the date needs the ordinal, not the counting number.

✅ Tänään on viides joulukuuta.

Today is the fifth of December.

Key Takeaways

ensimmäinen (1st) and toinen (2nd) are irregular — memorise them; they do not come from yksi/kaksi.
From kolmas (3rd) up, the ordinal = cardinal stem -s
, keeping the cardinal's vowel harmony.
A figure with a full stop (5.) is read as the ordinal (viides).
Ordinals are adjectives and must agree with their noun in case — that is the whole of the next page.

Now practice Finnish

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

Start learning Finnish→