Hindi ordinals are adjectives that locate an item in an ordered series: पहला “first,” दूसरा “second,” तीसरा “third,” and पाँचवाँ “fifth.” Unlike cardinal numerals such as दो “two,” ordinals decline. Their ending agrees with the noun they rank, while their numerical meaning stays constant.
Core agreement
| Features | पहला | पाँचवाँ |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular direct | पहला | पाँचवाँ |
| masculine plural direct | पहले | पाँचवें |
| masculine singular/plural oblique | पहले | पाँचवें |
| feminine, all cases | पहली | पाँचवीं |
पहला अध्याय छोटा है, लेकिन दूसरा काफ़ी कठिन है।
pahlā adhyāy choṭā hai, lekin dūsrā kāfī kaṭhin hai.
The first chapter is short, but the second is quite difficult.
पहली बस निकल गई; दूसरी दस मिनट में आएगी।
pahlī bas nikal gaī; dūsrī das minaṭ meṃ āegī.
The first bus has left; the second will come in ten minutes.
Here दूसरा/दूसरी are also substantival: the repeated noun is understood. Agreement preserves its gender.
Irregular first ordinals and the productive pattern
The first four common ordinals are lexical: पहला, दूसरा, तीसरा, चौथा. From five onward, many ordinals use cardinal + -वाँ, with agreeing -वें/-वीं: पाँचवाँ, सातवाँ, दसवाँ, इक्कीसवाँ. Stem details must be learned with the number system; the agreement endings themselves are regular.
लिफ़्ट पाँचवीं मंज़िल पर नहीं रुकती।
lifṭ pā̃cvīṃ maṃzil par nahīṃ ruktī.
The elevator does not stop on the fifth floor.
दसवें सवाल का जवाब सबसे लंबा है।
dasveṃ savāl kā javāb sabse lambā hai.
The answer to the tenth question is the longest.
The romanization pā̃cvīṃ/dasveṃ reflects the nasalized ordinal ending. Do not confuse that nasalization with a plural noun ending.
Compound ordinals are formed from the complete cardinal expression, and only the ordinal ending carries the adjective paradigm: इक्कीसवाँ/इक्कीसवीं “twenty-first,” बत्तीसवाँ/बत्तीसवीं “thirty-second.” There is no English-style split in which only a separate word first agrees.
आज इस कार्यक्रम की इक्कीसवीं कड़ी प्रसारित होगी।
āj is kāryakram kī ikkīsvīṃ kaṛī prasārit hogī.
The twenty-first episode of this program will be broadcast today.
Direct and oblique
A masculine singular ordinal changes to -ए/-वें before a postposition, even though only one item is ranked.
तीसरा कमरा खाली है; तीसरे कमरे में सामान मत रखिए।
tīsrā kamrā khālī hai; tīsre kamre meṃ sāmān mat rakhie.
The third room is empty; please do not put luggage in the third room.
हम दूसरे रास्ते से जाएँगे।
ham dūsre rāste se jāẽge.
We will go by the second route.
Feminine -ई stays fixed: दूसरी गली, दूसरी गली में, दूसरी गलियों में.
Case is visible on a masculine ordinal even when the noun is omitted. In पहले को बुलाइए “call the first one,” पहले is oblique because को follows it; the missing masculine head is still recoverable. Feminine पहली को keeps -ī.
पहले को अंदर भेजिए, फिर तीसरे को बुलाइए।
pahle ko andar bhejie, phir tīsre ko bulāie.
Send the first one inside, then call the third one.
Attributive and predicative uses
Ordinals are normally attributive before the noun. Predicatively, they identify rank and still agree.
आज मेरी टीम दूसरे स्थान पर है।
āj merī ṭīm dūsre sthān par hai.
My team is in second place today.
इस दौड़ में सीमा पहली रही।
is dauṛ meṃ sīmā pahlī rahī.
Seema finished first in this race.
The second example is predicative: feminine पहली classifies Seema's finishing rank. English often uses an invariant adverb first; Hindi retains adjective agreement.
With school grades and institutional labels, an ordinal may be conventional even where English prefers a cardinal number. दसवीं कक्षा means “tenth grade,” and the feminine ending follows कक्षा, not a feminine property of the number.
उसकी बेटी अब दसवीं कक्षा में पढ़ती है।
uskī beṭī ab dasvīṃ kakṣā meṃ paṛhtī hai.
His daughter is now in tenth grade.
Order, degree, and conventional meanings
An ordinal normally precedes descriptive adjectives that distinguish the item: दूसरा बड़ा कमरा “the second large room.” A cardinal counts items, while an ordinal ranks them: दो कमरे versus दूसरा कमरा.
दूसरा बड़ा कमरा मेहमानों के लिए है।
dūsrā baṛā kamrā mehmānoṃ ke lie hai.
The second large room is for guests.
Ordinals are not normally gradable: बहुत पहला is not “very first.” Emphasis uses सबसे पहला “the very first/earliest” or बिल्कुल पहला, where the phrase has a conventional boundary meaning.
सबसे पहली ट्रेन सुबह पाँच बजे है।
sabse pahlī ṭren subah pā̃c baje hai.
The very first train is at five in the morning.
Agreement in a ने-clause
रवि ने दूसरी फ़ाइल खोली।
ravi ne dūsrī fāil kholī.
Ravi opened the second file.
Feminine दूसरी and perfective खोली agree with unmarked फ़ाइल, not with masculine रवि ने.
The forms of the underlying numerals, including irregular stems, are covered in ordinal numbers.
Common Mistakes
❌ हम पाँचवाँ मंज़िल पर रहते हैं।
Incorrect—feminine मंज़िल requires पाँचवीं.
✅ हम पाँचवीं मंज़िल पर रहते हैं।
ham pā̃cvīṃ maṃzil par rahte haiṃ.
We live on the fifth floor.
❌ दूसरा कमरे में बैठक है।
Incorrect—में requires masculine oblique दूसरे कमरे में.
✅ दूसरे कमरे में बैठक है।
dūsre kamre meṃ baiṭhak hai.
The meeting is in the second room.
❌ यह मेरी दो किताब है।
Incorrect for ‘second book’—cardinal दो counts two books; ordinal दूसरी ranks one.
✅ यह मेरी दूसरी किताब है।
yah merī dūsrī kitāb hai.
This is my second book.
❌ नीता ने पहला तस्वीर चुनी।
Incorrect—the ordinal follows feminine तस्वीर, not the agent.
✅ नीता ने पहली तस्वीर चुनी।
nītā ne pahlī tasvīr cunī.
Neeta chose the first photograph.
Key Takeaways
- Ordinals rank one member and agree like declinable adjectives.
- पहला–चौथा are lexical; many later forms use -वाँ/-वें/-वीं.
- Masculine oblique ordinals take -ए/-वें; feminine ordinals keep -ई/-वीं.
- Predicative and substantival ordinals preserve agreement with the ranked referent.
Related Topics
- Ordinal numbersA2 — Form and use Hindi ordinals from पहला through लाखवाँ, with agreement, oblique case, dates, rankings, and formal alternatives.
- Declinable adjectives in -āA1 — Form the -ā, -e, and -ī agreement pattern of variable Hindi adjectives across gender, number, case, and predicate position.
- Adjectives used substantivallyA2 — Let a Hindi adjective stand for a recoverable person or thing, preserving the silent noun's agreement and case.
- Oblique singular formationA2 — Form the singular case used before Hindi postpositions and recognize when that case is overt or hidden on the noun.