Cardinals say how many; ordinals locate something in an order, fractions name parts of a whole, and distributives say how a quantity is allocated. These families share number stems, but Hungarian does not build them with one completely predictable ending. Első “first” and második “second” are irregular, and even regular-looking ordinals use several linking vowels.
The core ordinal paradigm
Most ordinals contain -dik preceded by a vowel selected by the stem. The useful teaching forms are -adik, -edik, -odik, -ödik, but learners should store the complete common ordinal because several number stems also change.
Harmony narrows the possible ending, but it does not predict every linking vowel or stem alternation. Ötödik and hatodik are transparent; harmadik, negyedik, and hetedik require their conventional shortened stems. This is a real memorization burden rather than a rule learners have failed to discover.
| Cardinal | Ordinal | Meaning | Formation note |
|---|---|---|---|
| egy | első | first | irregular |
| kettő | második | second | irregular when exactly 2nd |
| három | harmadik | third | stem shortening + -adik |
| négy | negyedik | fourth | é shortens to e |
| öt | ötödik | fifth | front rounded -ödik |
| hat | hatodik | sixth | back -odik |
| hét | hetedik | seventh | é shortens to e |
| nyolc | nyolcadik | eighth | back -adik |
| kilenc | kilencedik | ninth | front -edik |
| tíz | tizedik | tenth | í shortens to i |
A harmadik emeleten lakunk, közvetlenül a lift mellett.
We live on the third floor, right next to the elevator.
Ez már az ötödik alkalom, hogy elfelejtem a jelszavamat.
This is already the fifth time I've forgotten my password.
An ordinal before a noun behaves like an attributive adjective: it stays unchanged, and case goes on the noun. Compare a harmadik emelet, a harmadik emeleten, a harmadik emeletre. If the noun is omitted, the ordinal itself can take the suffix.
Melyik sütit kéred? — A másodikat.
Which cake would you like? — The second one.
Here második-at carries accusative because it replaces the noun phrase. English also allows the second one, but Hungarian needs no equivalent of one.
Larger ordinals
In a compound ordinal, only the final numerical element receives ordinal morphology: tizenegyedik 11th, tizenkettedik 12th, huszonegyedik 21st, harminckettedik 32nd. Exact “second” is második, but the final two in 12th or 22nd uses the stem kettedik, not tizenmásodik.
Round tens and scale words have their own conventional stems: huszadik 20th, harmincadik 30th, századik 100th, ezredik 1,000th, milliomodik 1,000,000th.
A huszonegyedik oldalon van a térkép.
The map is on page twenty-one.
Hungarian conceptualizes this as “on the twenty-first page,” so the form is ordinal even where English uses the label page twenty-one.
The cardinal compound-spelling rule also covers ordinal words. Write forms through 2,000 together. Above 2,000, use three-digit grouping when a nonzero group follows: négyezer-hatszázötödik 4,605th. See the cardinal forms page for the full joining rule.
Ordinals written with digits
An ordinal digit takes a following point: 1. fejezet, 3. sor, 21. oldal. Do not add English st, nd, rd, or th, and do not write a hybrid such as 3-dik.
A találkozó a 2. emeleten lesz.
The meeting will be on the second floor.
If a suffix attaches directly to an ordinal digit because no following noun carries it, the point remains before a hyphen: a 3.-ba jár “he/she is in third grade,” a 10.-kel “with the tenth.” This spelling is mainly relevant in writing; words are often clearer in running prose.
When an ordinal stands alone
An attributive ordinal is invariant: az első futó, az első futók, az első futókat. Once the noun is omitted, however, the ordinal becomes nominal and carries the endings needed by the sentence.
Az elsőnek gratuláltam, aztán a másodiknak is.
I congratulated the first one, and then the second one too.
Az elsők már célba értek, a többiek még futnak.
The leaders have already reached the finish; the others are still running.
In első-nek the ordinal carries dative; in első-k it carries plural because it means “the first ones.” This does not contradict quantified singular két futó: the ordinal is no longer a quantity word modifying an overt noun.
Fractions: ordinal stem without -ik
Many fraction names correspond to an ordinal with final -ik removed: harmadik → harmad “third,” negyedik → negyed “quarter/fourth,” ötödik → ötöd, tizedik → tized, századik → század. One half is the important lexical form fél; ketted exists in technical fraction naming but everyday “half” is fél.
| Fraction | Hungarian | Literal structure |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 | egy fél / fél | one half / half |
| 1/4 | egy negyed | one fourth |
| 2/3 | két harmad | two thirds |
| 3/5 | három ötöd | three fifths |
| 0.7 | hét tized | seven tenths |
Notice the singular denominator: két harmad, not két harmadok. This is the ordinary quantified-singular rule. When the whole fraction phrase modifies another noun, spelling can change: noun-valued két harmad is separate, while attributive kétharmad rész “two-thirds portion” is written together.
A munka kétharmad része már elkészült.
Two thirds of the work has already been completed.
Negyed óra múlva visszahívlak.
I'll call you back in a quarter of an hour.
Percentages
The noun százalék “percent” follows a cardinal and therefore remains singular: öt százalék, tizenkét százalék. In digit notation, 5% represents the same expression. An adjective meaning “five-percent” is ötszázalékos, or 5%-os with digits.
Az árak átlagosan öt százalékkal emelkedtek.
Prices rose by an average of five percent.
The instrumental ending appears on the percentage expression: öt százalék-kal → öt százalékkal. The number itself remains unsuffixed. A decimal percentage uses the Hungarian comma: 2,5 százalék, not 2.5 százalék.
Distributive expressions
Distributives specify the size of each group or the amount assigned to each unit. Two essential patterns are kettesével “two at a time/in pairs” and fejenként “per person.”
A biztonsági őr kettesével engedte be a látogatókat.
The security guard admitted the visitors two at a time.
Fejenként két jegyet lehet vásárolni.
Each person may buy two tickets.
Kettesével belongs to a series built on -s numeral forms: egyesével, kettesével, hármasával, négyesével, ötösével. The internal shape includes a possessive element and instrumental ending, but these are best learned as complete distributive forms. Fejenként contains distributive -nként and literally organizes the quantity “per head/person.” Productive parallels include darabonként “per item” and oldalanként “per page.”
A gyerekek hármasával ültek le az asztalokhoz.
The children sat down at the tables in groups of three.
Segmentation exercise
- harmadik → harm-adik: shortened stem of három
- ordinal ending.
- negyedik → negy-edik: shortened stem of négy
- front-vowel ordinal ending.
- tizenkettedik → tizen-kett-edik: twelve + ordinal formation on the final element.
- századik → száz-adik: hundredth.
- három ötöd → három + ötöd: three fifths; the denominator remains singular.
- kettesével → kett-es-é-vel: two + -s numeral + possessive element + instrumental, “two at a time.”
- fejenként → fej-enként: head/person + distributive “per.”
Common Mistakes
❌ A kettedik fejezet rövidebb.
Incorrect — the standalone ordinal for second is irregular.
✅ A második fejezet rövidebb.
The second chapter is shorter.
❌ A négyedik emeleten dolgozom.
Incorrect — the long vowel of négy shortens in negyedik.
✅ A negyedik emeleten dolgozom.
I work on the fourth floor.
❌ Két harmadok már elkészültek.
Incorrect — a fraction denominator after a cardinal remains singular.
✅ Két harmad már elkészült.
Two thirds has already been completed.
❌ A harmadik emeletre megyek, vagyis a 3-dikra.
Incorrect digit spelling — Hungarian marks an ordinal digit with a point.
✅ A harmadik emeletre megyek, vagyis a 3.-ra.
I'm going to the third floor, that is, to the third.
❌ Fejenként két jegyeket lehet venni.
Incorrect — the noun after the allocated cardinal remains singular.
✅ Fejenként két jegyet lehet venni.
Each person can buy two tickets.
Key Takeaways
- Első and második are irregular; most later ordinals use a harmonizing form of -dik plus sometimes an altered stem.
- Exact second is második, but compound forms include tizenkettedik and huszonkettedik.
- Ordinals before nouns are invariant; if the noun is omitted, the ordinal can take case endings.
- Fraction denominators generally match ordinal stems without final -ik; everyday one half is fél.
- Százalék remains singular after a number, and Hungarian decimals use a comma.
- Kettesével expresses group size, while fejenként introduces a per-person allocation.
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