Ordinal numbers indicate position in a sequence — first, second, third, fourth. In French they are premier, deuxième, troisième, quatrième. Where cardinals count things (trois enfants, "three children"), ordinals rank them (le troisième enfant, "the third child"). Most ordinals are formed by a single, predictable rule — drop any final e from the cardinal and add -ième — but the system has a handful of consequential exceptions you must memorize: the u inserted in cinquième, the f turning to v in neuvième, the special form premier/première with full gender agreement, and the alternative second/seconde used in some contexts. There is also a French quirk worth flagging early: dates of the month use cardinals, not ordinals, with one exception (le premier).
This page covers the formation rule, the irregularities, the gender and number agreement of premier, the abbreviation conventions (1er, 1re, 2e — not 2nd as in English), and the traditional contexts where ordinals appear (chapters, kings, centuries, addresses, dates).
The formation rule
The default rule is mechanical:
- Take the cardinal number.
- If it ends in a silent e, drop the e.
- Add -ième.
So quatre → quatre + -ième → quatrième. Vingt → vingt + -ième → vingtième. Trente → trent + -ième → trentième.
| Cardinal | Ordinal | English |
|---|---|---|
| deux | deuxième | second |
| trois | troisième | third |
| quatre | quatrième | fourth |
| six | sixième | sixth |
| sept | septième | seventh |
| huit | huitième | eighth |
| dix | dixième | tenth |
| onze | onzième | eleventh |
| vingt | vingtième | twentieth |
| trente | trentième | thirtieth |
C'est la troisième fois qu'il me téléphone aujourd'hui.
It's the third time he's called me today.
Elle vit au quatrième étage.
She lives on the fifth floor. (the fourth floor in French counting — see below)
Le vingtième siècle a connu deux guerres mondiales.
The twentieth century saw two world wars.
A small but important note for English speakers about floor numbering: in France, the ground floor is le rez-de-chaussée, and le premier étage is what Americans call the second floor. So au quatrième étage is the fifth floor by American convention. Real-estate ads use the French numbering.
The four irregularities
Four ordinals deviate from the standard rule. Memorize them.
1. premier / première (1st)
The ordinal "first" is not *unième. It is premier (masculine) or première (feminine), with full gender agreement and a distinct adjective base. The cardinal un is never used to form "first" except in compound numbers (see below).
C'est mon premier voyage en France.
It's my first trip to France.
C'était la première fois que je voyais la mer.
It was the first time I had seen the sea.
Le premier homme à marcher sur la Lune.
The first man to walk on the Moon.
The plural is premiers (masc.) / premières (fem.):
Les premières neiges de l'hiver.
The first snows of winter.
2. cinquième (5th) — with inserted u
Adding -ième directly to cinq would give *cinqième, which violates French spelling rules (a q not followed by u before i or e would change pronunciation). So a u is inserted: cinq + -u- + -ième = cinquième.
Le cinquième arrondissement de Paris est très ancien.
The fifth district of Paris is very old.
C'est la cinquième fois que je vois ce film.
It's the fifth time I've seen this movie.
3. neuvième (9th) — f becomes v
The cardinal neuf ends in f, but the ordinal turns it to v: neuvième. This reflects an old French phonological rule (the f would have voiced before a vowel anyway).
Beethoven a écrit neuf symphonies. La neuvième est la plus célèbre.
Beethoven wrote nine symphonies. The Ninth is the most famous.
Au neuvième siècle, Charlemagne régnait.
In the ninth century, Charlemagne ruled.
4. second / seconde (2nd, alternative)
For 2nd, French has two forms: deuxième (the regular ordinal) and second / seconde (an older form, with feminine seconde). They are largely interchangeable, but a traditional rule says to use second only when there are exactly two items, and deuxième when there could be more.
- La Seconde Guerre mondiale (the Second World War — only two world wars) ✅
- La deuxième fois que je viens (the second time I'm coming — implying possibly more) ✅
In practice this distinction is loosely observed and deuxième is the safe default in modern usage. Second/seconde survives in fixed expressions: de seconde main (second-hand), en second lieu (secondly), seconde classe (second class).
La Seconde Guerre mondiale a duré six ans.
The Second World War lasted six years.
C'est la deuxième fois que je le rencontre.
It's the second time I've met him.
Compound ordinals: 21st, 22nd, 31st, ..., 100th
For numbers above 20, ordinals are formed by adding -ième to the cardinal as written.
| Cardinal | Ordinal |
|---|---|
| vingt et un | vingt et unième (21st) |
| vingt-deux | vingt-deuxième (22nd) |
| trente et un | trente et unième (31st) |
| soixante-dix | soixante-dixième (70th) |
| soixante et onze | soixante et onzième (71st) |
| quatre-vingts | quatre-vingtième (80th — note: s drops) |
| quatre-vingt-un | quatre-vingt-unième (81st) |
| quatre-vingt-dix | quatre-vingt-dixième (90th) |
| cent | centième (100th) |
| mille | millième (1,000th) |
| un million | millionième (1,000,000th) |
Notice vingt et unième — when un appears in a compound and is the final unit, the ordinal is unième, not premier. Premier is reserved for the standalone "first."
Le 21e siècle a commencé en 2001.
The 21st century began in 2001.
C'est la cent unième fois que je le lui dis.
It's the hundred and first time I'm telling him.
Au quatre-vingtième anniversaire de sa naissance.
On the eightieth anniversary of his birth.
The dropping of the s on quatre-vingts in quatre-vingtième mirrors the same rule as in cardinals: quatre-vingts keeps the s alone, drops it before another element.
Gender and number agreement
Most ordinals end in -ième and are invariable in gender — the same form serves masculine and feminine. They do, however, agree in number (taking -s in the plural).
Le deuxième livre, la deuxième page.
The second book (m.), the second page (f.).
Les deuxièmes places sont moins chères.
The second-class seats are cheaper.
The single exception is premier, which has full four-form agreement: premier, première, premiers, premières.
Le premier ministre est arrivé.
The Prime Minister has arrived. (m.)
La première dame du pays.
The First Lady of the country. (f.)
Les premiers résultats sont encourageants.
The first results are encouraging. (m.pl.)
Les premières fleurs du printemps.
The first flowers of spring. (f.pl.)
The same gender pattern applies to second/seconde and to dernier/dernière ("last"), which patterns identically with premier even though it isn't strictly an ordinal.
Abbreviations
French ordinal abbreviations differ from English in a way that catches every English speaker once. The pattern:
| Number | Masculine | Feminine | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1er | 1re | 1st |
| 2nd | 2e (or 2d) | 2e (or 2de) | 2nd |
| 3rd | 3e | 3e | 3rd |
| 4th | 4e | 4e | 4th |
| 21st | 21e | 21e | 21st |
Two key contrasts with English:
- French does not use 2nd, 3rd, 4th as superscript suffixes. The standard French abbreviation for ordinals beyond premier/première is just e (sometimes typeset as a superscript: 2ᵉ).
- 1er (m.) and 1re (f.) preserve gender even in abbreviation. Le 1er prix, la 1re fois.
Elle est élève de 1re année.
She's a first-year student. (de la première année)
Le 21e arrondissement n'existe pas. Paris a vingt arrondissements.
The 21st district doesn't exist. Paris has twenty districts.
The traditional alternative 2d / 2de (for second/seconde) appears in some legal and military contexts but is rare in everyday writing.
Where ordinals appear: traditional contexts
Chapters and acts
In headings, ordinals come after the noun: chapitre premier, scène première, acte second. Note the reversed order, which is a literary convention.
Chapitre premier : Un héritage.
Chapter One: An Inheritance.
Acte deuxième, scène première.
Act Two, Scene One.
In informal writing or modern textbooks, chapitre 1, chapitre 2 (cardinals) is more common.
Kings, popes, centuries
Monarchs and popes take ordinals in French:
- Louis XIV (Louis quatorze — but the second is Henri II, "Henri deux," with cardinal!)
- *François I*er (François premier)
- Jean-Paul II (Jean-Paul deux)
The convention here is unusual: only the first uses an ordinal (premier); from deux onward, French uses the cardinal in royal names. So:
| Roman numeral | French |
|---|---|
| Louis I | Louis premier |
| Louis II | Louis deux |
| Louis XIV | Louis quatorze |
| Napoléon III | Napoléon trois |
This is a striking contrast with English, which uses ordinals throughout (Louis the Fourteenth, Napoleon the Third).
Le règne de Louis XIV (Louis quatorze) a duré soixante-douze ans.
The reign of Louis XIV lasted seventy-two years.
Centuries, by contrast, take ordinals: au XXIe siècle (au vingt et unième siècle), le XIXe siècle (le dix-neuvième siècle).
Balzac est un écrivain du XIXe siècle.
Balzac is a 19th-century writer.
Dates of the month — cardinals, except the first
A famous French exception: dates of the month use cardinal numbers, except for the first of the month, which uses premier.
- le premier mai — May 1st (ordinal)
- le deux mai — May 2nd (cardinal!)
- le trois juin — June 3rd (cardinal)
- le vingt-cinq décembre — December 25th (cardinal)
Mon anniversaire est le premier juin.
My birthday is June 1st.
Nous partons le quinze août.
We're leaving on August 15th.
This is one of the few places in French where the ordinal/cardinal split runs in the opposite direction from English (which uses ordinals throughout: the second of May, the third of June).
Addresses and floor numbers
French street addresses generally use cardinals (15, rue de Rivoli) but floor numbers take ordinals (au troisième étage).
J'habite au 23, rue Mouffetard, au cinquième étage.
I live at 23 rue Mouffetard, on the sixth floor (5th floor in French counting).
Cardinal vs ordinal: the choice
When French has a choice, the meaning shifts:
- deux fois — two times, twice (frequency, cardinal)
- la deuxième fois — the second time (specific instance in sequence, ordinal)
- trois enfants — three children (count, cardinal)
- le troisième enfant — the third child (rank, ordinal)
J'ai trois sœurs ; ma deuxième sœur s'appelle Camille.
I have three sisters; my second sister is named Camille.
C'est la première fois que je goûte cela.
It's the first time I've tasted this.
The rule is intuitive once stated: cardinals count, ordinals rank.
Common Mistakes
❌ Le unième livre.
Incorrect — for 'the first', use *premier*, not *unième* alone.
✅ Le premier livre.
The first book.
❌ La Deuxième Guerre mondiale a duré six ans.
Acceptable but the traditional rule prefers *seconde* when only two items exist — *La Seconde Guerre mondiale*.
✅ La Seconde Guerre mondiale a duré six ans.
The Second World War lasted six years. (only two world wars exist, so traditional rule favors *seconde*)
❌ Cinqième.
Incorrect spelling — must insert *u* for pronunciation.
✅ Cinquième.
Fifth.
❌ Le 2nd étage.
Incorrect — French does not use *2nd* in abbreviation; use *2e*.
✅ Le 2e étage.
The 2nd floor (3rd floor in American counting).
❌ Le deuxième mai.
Incorrect — dates of the month use cardinals.
✅ Le deux mai.
May 2nd.
❌ Le premier mai sera férié, le deuxième mai aussi.
Inconsistent — *premier* for the 1st but cardinal for the 2nd.
✅ Le premier mai sera férié, le deux mai aussi.
May 1st will be a holiday, May 2nd too.
❌ Louis le quatorzième.
Incorrect for royal names — French uses cardinal from *deux* onward.
✅ Louis quatorze.
Louis XIV.
❌ La fois première.
Wrong word order — *premier/première* normally precedes the noun.
✅ La première fois.
The first time.
The two errors that matter most for everyday French are the cinquième spelling (do not forget the u) and the date convention (le premier mai but le deux mai). Both come up constantly.
Key takeaways
French ordinals are formed by adding -ième to the cardinal, with four memorized exceptions: premier/première (1st, with full gender agreement), cinquième (5th, with inserted u), neuvième (9th, with f → v), and the alternative second/seconde (2nd, for two-only contexts). Ordinals beyond premier end in -ième and agree only in number, never in gender. The abbreviation system is 1er (m.), 1re (f.), 2e, 3e, 4e — not 2nd, 3rd, 4th as in English. Royal names use cardinal from deux onward (Louis quatorze), and dates of the month use cardinals except for the first (le premier mai but le deux mai). Master these conventions and the rest is mechanical: drop the silent e, add -ième, you have your ordinal.
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