Hebrew ordinals answer “which one in the sequence?”: the first chapter, the second floor, the third attempt. Their crucial property is that they are adjectives, not a special kind of counting word. They therefore follow their noun and agree with it in gender, number, and definiteness in every register.
First through tenth
Modern Hebrew has dedicated ordinal adjectives only through ten. Learn each as a masculine–feminine pair, just as you would learn a descriptive adjective.
| # | Masculine | Feminine | Reads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | רִאשׁוֹן | רִאשׁוֹנָה | rishón · rishoná |
| 2nd | שֵׁנִי | שְׁנִיָּיה | shení · shniyá |
| 3rd | שְׁלִישִׁי | שְׁלִישִׁית | shlishí · shlishít |
| 4th | רְבִיעִי | רְבִיעִית | revi'í · revi'ít |
| 5th | חֲמִישִׁי | חֲמִישִׁית | khamishí · khamishít |
| 6th | שִׁישִּׁי | שִׁישִּׁית | shishí · shishít |
| 7th | שְׁבִיעִי | שְׁבִיעִית | shvi'í · shvi'ít |
| 8th | שְׁמִינִי | שְׁמִינִית | shminí · shminít |
| 9th | תְּשִׁיעִי | תְּשִׁיעִית | tshi'í · tshi'ít |
| 10th | עֲשִׂירִי | עֲשִׂירִית | asirí · asirít |
Ktiv male matters here. The feminine “second” is שנייה with two yods, and its pointed twin must preserve both: שְׁנִיָּיה. The feminine forms שישית, שביעית, תשיעית all keep the yod that writes their /i/ vowel.
קראתי את הספר הראשון בסדרה, אבל עוד לא את השני.
karáti et haséfer harishón basidrá, avál od lo et hashení
I read the first book in the series, but not the second yet.
היא גרה בקומה השנייה ואין בבניין מעלית.
hi gará bakomá hashniyá ve'éin babinyán ma'alít
She lives on the second floor and the building has no lift.
בפעם השלישית כבר זכרתי להביא מטרייה.
bapá'am hashlishít kvar zakhárti lehaví mitriyá
By the third time, I remembered to bring an umbrella.
Position and definiteness: ordinary adjective rules
An English ordinal normally comes before its noun: the third chapter. Hebrew puts the noun first: הפרק השלישי. Because an ordinal is attributive, a definite phrase marks definiteness twice: once on the noun and once on the ordinal. Compare indefinite פרק שלישי “a third chapter” with definite הפרק השלישי “the third chapter.”
הפרק השלישי מסביר סוף סוף למה הדמות עזבה.
hapérek hashlishí masbír sof sof láma hadmút azvá
The third chapter finally explains why the character left.
לקחנו מקום ראשון בתחרות, ועדיין קשה לי להאמין.
lakákhnu makóm rishón batakharút, va'adáyin kashé li leha'amín
We took first place in the competition, and I still can't believe it.
Number agreement works exactly like adjective agreement. A feminine noun selects a feminine ordinal; plural nouns select plural ordinals.
השיעורים הראשונים היו קלים, ואז הקצב השתנה.
hashi'urím harishoním hayú kalím, ve'áz hakétsev hishtaná
The first lessons were easy, and then the pace changed.
שתי הקבוצות הראשונות עולות לגמר.
shtei hakvutsót harishonót olót lagmár
The first two teams advance to the final.
The complete agreement system is on adjective agreement. The useful shortcut here is: if you would put the adjective after the noun and repeat ה־, do the same with the ordinal.
Above ten: a cardinal phrase does the ordinal job
There is no productive series of special ordinal words beyond עשירי. From eleven upward, Hebrew uses the corresponding cardinal phrase with the definite article. The syntax still treats that phrase as the sequence label following the noun.
| Hebrew | Underlying numeral | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| הקומה השתים עשרה | שתים עשרה | the twelfth floor |
| יום ההולדת החמישה עשר | חמישה עשר | the fifteenth birthday |
| המאה העשרים ואחת | עשרים ואחת | the twenty-first century |
| היום השלושים | שלושים | the thirtieth day |
The gender is still controlled by the noun whose place in the sequence is being named. קומה and מאה are feminine, so the final unit in שתים עשרה and עשרים ואחת is feminine. יום is masculine, so יום ההולדת החמישה עשר uses the masculine teen.
המשרד שלנו עבר לקומה השתים עשרה.
hamisrád shelánu avár lakomá hashtéim esré
Our office moved to the twelfth floor.
הסיפור מתרחש בתחילת המאה העשרים ואחת.
hasipúr mitrakhésh bitkhilát hame'á ha'esrím ve'akhát
The story takes place at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
חגגנו לו את יום ההולדת החמישה עשר בבית.
khagágnu lo et yom hahulédet hakhamishá asár babáyit
We celebrated his fifteenth birthday at home.
Three forms that look more mysterious than they are
ראשון is built on ראש, not on אחד. English first is irregular too; Hebrew simply chose “head/beginning” as its base. There is no form derived transparently from אחד that means “first.”
שני has a homograph. Before a noun, שני ספרים means “two books”: it is the construct form of the cardinal two. After a noun, הספר השני means “the second book”: it is an agreeing ordinal adjective. Position and definiteness separate them.
הזמנתי שני כרטיסים, אבל הכרטיס השני לא הגיע למייל.
hizmánti shnei kartisím, avál hakartís hashení lo higía laméil
I ordered two tickets, but the second ticket didn't arrive by email.
The feminine ordinal also names a fraction from one fifth upward: חמישית can be “a fifth,” שישית “a sixth,” and עשירית “a tenth.” A third and a quarter do not follow that pattern: they are the masculine nouns שליש and רבע. See fractions and percentages for that separate system.
What is not an ordinal
Israeli dates do not use ordinal numbers in the recommended standard. The fifth of August is חמישה באוגוסט, a masculine cardinal with no article, not ראשון/חמישי plus a month. The register variants and written date formats are treated on dates.
Weekday names such as יום ראשון and יום שני are historically built with these ordinals, but they function as the ordinary names Sunday and Monday. Their use belongs to days of the week.
Common Mistakes
1. Putting the ordinal before its noun. This copies English adjective order.
❌ השלישי הפרק
Incorrect — an ordinal is a Hebrew adjective and follows its noun: הפרק השלישי.
✅ הפרק השלישי נגמר בדיוק ברגע הכי מותח.
hapérek hashlishí nigmár bediyúk baréga hakhí motéakh
The third episode ended at the most suspenseful moment.
2. Marking definiteness only on the noun. An attributive ordinal copies the article.
❌ הפרק שלישי
Incorrect — definite noun and adjective must match: הפרק השלישי. Without articles, פרק שלישי means ‘a third chapter.’
✅ דילגתי על הפרק השני ועכשיו אני לא מבין כלום.
dilágti al hapérek hashení ve'akhsháv aní lo mevín klum
I skipped the second episode and now I don't understand anything. (m. speaker)
3. Letting a masculine ordinal follow a feminine noun. The sequence meaning does not cancel gender agreement.
❌ הקומה השני
Incorrect — קומה is feminine, so ‘the second floor’ is הקומה השנייה.
✅ בית הקפה נמצא בקומה השנייה ליד המעליות.
beit hakafé nimtsá bakomá hashniyá leyád hama'aliyót
The café is on the second floor by the lifts.
4. Keeping a singular ordinal with a plural noun. Ordinals inflect for number like other adjectives.
❌ השיעורים הראשונה
Incorrect — שיעורים is masculine plural, so the ordinal must be הראשונים.
✅ השיעורים הראשונים מתחילים בתשע ולא בשמונה.
hashi'urím harishoním matkhilím betésha veló bishmóne
The first classes start at nine, not eight.
Key Takeaways
- Dedicated ordinal adjectives run from ראשון through עשירי; above ten, a definite cardinal phrase does the job.
- Ordinals behave like adjectives: they follow the noun and agree in gender, number, and definiteness.
- שני ספרים means “two books,” but הספר השני means “the second book.” Position and the article reveal which שני you have.
- The feminine “second” is written שנייה with two yods.
- Dates use a masculine cardinal, not an ordinal; weekday names are a separate application of the same ordinal forms.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- שני and שתי: The Construct Form of 'Two'A2 — Two is the only cardinal with a dedicated short form, and the rule is sharper than most sources state it: standing free it is שניים and שתיים, but directly in front of the counted noun it MUST contract to שני and שתי — even when that noun is indefinite. That last clause is exactly where two parts company with three-to-ten.
- Adjectives Agree in Gender, Number and DefinitenessA1 — A Hebrew adjective copies three facts from its noun at once — gender, number and definiteness — and there is no neutral form to fall back on. The third one is the dangerous one: get the definiteness wrong and you have not made a clumsy phrase, you have made a different sentence.
- The Days of the Week Are NumbersA2 — Six of the seven days are simply counted — יום ראשון is day one, Sunday — and only שבת has a name. That resets the whole week: Sunday opens it, Friday closes it, and סוף שבוע means Friday and Saturday. Every timetable in the country is built on it.
- Fractions, Percentages and DecimalsB2 — How Hebrew builds fractions, percentages, decimals, arithmetic expressions, and multipliers—with the gender contrasts that determine every form.