Ordinal numbers answer the question "which one in a sequence?" — first, second, third — and in German they behave very differently from cardinals: they are adjectives and must take adjective endings (der erste Tag, am zweiten Mai, mein drittes Kind). German also has a written shorthand that English completely lacks: a period after a digit signals an ordinal (1. = erste, 3. = dritte). This page covers how to form ordinals, the handful of irregulars, how to decline them, and the all-important period notation that you will meet on every German date.
How ordinals are formed
There is one clean rule, with a split at twenty:
- From 1 to 19: add -t to the cardinal stem → zwei → zweit-, vier → viert-.
- From 20 upward: add -st to the cardinal → zwanzig → zwanzigst-, hundert → hundertst-.
These stems then take the normal adjective ending (-e, -en, -es ...). The reason for the -t / -st split is purely phonetic: after the -zig/-ßig of the tens, a bare -t would be hard to hear, so German uses the fuller -st. English does something parallel with its own -th (four-th, twentie-th), but German's marker is a t, not a th.
| Cardinal | Ordinal stem | Example form |
|---|---|---|
| vier (4) | viert- | der vierte |
| fünf (5) | fünft- | der fünfte |
| zehn (10) | zehnt- | der zehnte |
| neunzehn (19) | neunzehnt- | der neunzehnte |
| zwanzig (20) | zwanzigst- | der zwanzigste |
| hundert (100) | hundertst- | der hundertste |
Das ist mein fünfter Versuch.
This is my fifth attempt.
Sie wurde beim Wettrennen Zwanzigste.
She came twentieth in the race.
The irregulars: erste, dritte, siebte, achte
Four low ordinals do not follow the simple "add -t" rule and must be memorized:
| Number | Expected (wrong) | Correct ordinal | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | *einst- | erste | suppletive — a different stem entirely |
| 3rd | *dreit- | dritte | vowel change, drops the ei |
| 7th | siebent- | siebte | contracts (older siebente still exists, formal/literary) |
| 8th | *achtt- | achte | only one t — the stem already ends in t |
Erste (first) is like English "first" — a completely separate word from "one", not "oneth". Dritte (third) parallels English "third" (not "threeth") with its own vowel. Siebte (seventh) drops the -en of sieben; the longer siebente survives but sounds formal or literary. Achte (eighth) is the sneaky one: because acht already ends in t, you do not double it — it is achte, not achtte.
Heute ist mein erster Arbeitstag.
Today is my first day at work.
Im dritten Stock gibt es kein WLAN.
There's no wifi on the third floor.
Sie feiert ihren achten Geburtstag.
She's celebrating her eighth birthday.
Ordinals are adjectives — they take endings
This is the structural point English speakers most often miss. An ordinal is not a fixed word; it is an adjective, and like every German adjective it changes its ending to match the gender, number, and case of the noun, and according to whether there is a der-word or ein-word in front. The form erste you see in the dictionary is only the masculine nominative after der — it morphs everywhere else.
| Case | Masculine (der) | Feminine (die) | Neuter (das) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der erste Tag | die erste Woche | das erste Mal |
| Accusative | den ersten Tag | die erste Woche | das erste Mal |
| Dative | dem ersten Tag | der ersten Woche | dem ersten Mal |
The most common place you will feel this is in dates, where the dative ending appears after am (= an dem): der erste Mai (the first of May, as a label) but am ersten Mai (on the first of May, as a time). The ordinal swaps -e for -en because the dative triggers it. The same happens after ein-words: mein zweiter Versuch (nominative) but bei meinem zweiten Versuch (dative).
Der erste Mai ist ein Feiertag.
The first of May is a holiday. (nominative — labelling the day)
Wir kommen am zweiten März an.
We arrive on the second of March. (dative after am — note -en)
Bei meinem dritten Versuch hat es geklappt.
On my third attempt it worked. (dative after mein — dritten)
Friedrich der Zweite wird oft Friedrich der Große genannt.
Frederick the Second is often called Frederick the Great. (royal titles use the ordinal: der Zweite = 'the Second')
The period IS the ordinal marker
German writes ordinals with the digit followed by a period (full stop). That period is not punctuation ending a sentence — it is the ordinal suffix in symbolic form. So:
- 1. reads as erste(r/n/s) — "first"
- 3. reads as dritte(r/n/s) — "third"
- am 3. Oktober reads as am dritten Oktober — "on the third of October"
This has no English equivalent: English writes "1st, 2nd, 3rd" with a letter suffix, while German uses a bare period. When you read German aloud, you must mentally supply the ordinal ending the context requires. Der 1. Platz is der erste Platz (first place); am 24.12. is am vierundzwanzigsten Zwölften (on the 24th of December). The period after the month number even turns 12 into the ordinal Zwölften — the month is itself read as an ordinal.
Er belegte den 2. Platz.
He took second place. (2. = zweiten, accusative)
Die Sitzung ist am 15. verschoben worden.
The meeting was postponed to the 15th. (15. = fünfzehnten)
Common Mistakes
❌ Wir kommen am zweite März an.
Incorrect — the dative after am needs -en, not -e.
✅ Wir kommen am zweiten März an.
On the second of March — dative ending -en.
❌ der achtte Geburtstag
Incorrect — acht already ends in t, so no double t.
✅ der achte Geburtstag
The eighth birthday — achte has a single t.
❌ der dreite Stock
Incorrect — third is irregular, not 'drei + t'.
✅ der dritte Stock
The third floor — dritte, with the irregular stem.
❌ der einste Versuch
Incorrect — 'first' is suppletive, like English 'first' not 'oneth'.
✅ der erste Versuch
The first attempt — erste.
❌ am 3 Oktober (no period)
Incorrect — without the period it reads as a cardinal, not an ordinal.
✅ am 3. Oktober
On the third of October — the period marks the ordinal.
Key Takeaways
- Form ordinals with -t (1–19) and -st (from 20), then add an adjective ending.
- Memorize erste, dritte, siebte, achte (one t).
- Ordinals are adjectives: am ersten Mai (dative -en), mein zweiter Versuch (nominative -er).
- A period after a digit is the ordinal marker — 1. = erste, with no English-style letter suffix.
Now practice German
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Cardinal Numbers 0-20A1 — The German numbers null to zwanzig, including the irregular teens elf and zwölf, the dropped letters in sechzehn and siebzehn, and why the count eins becomes ein before a noun.
- Dates, Days, and YearsA2 — German dates use an ordinal day in day-month-year order (1.5.2026), days and months are masculine and take am/im, and years are read as plain numbers or in hundreds — with no preposition before a bare year (never in 1990).
- Weak Adjective Declension (after der-words)A2 — The weak endings used when a definite article or der-word already shows the case: only -e or -en, with -e in just five cells.
- Mixed Adjective Declension (after ein-words)B1 — The hybrid pattern after ein-words: weak endings where the ein-word inflects, but strong endings in the three gaps where ein shows nothing.
- Pronouncing Numbers, Dates, and Spelling AloudA2 — Spoken German says the units before the tens (einundzwanzig = 'one-and-twenty'), uses zwo on the phone to avoid confusion with drei, and has its own spelling alphabet — the survival skills for phone numbers, prices, dates, and dictation.