Ordinal Numbers | Swedish Grammar

Ordinal numbers answer "which one in the sequence?" — first, second, third — as opposed to the cardinals (one, two, three) that answer "how many?". In Swedish the ordinals matter more than an English speaker expects, because Swedish reaches for an ordinal in places English uses a cardinal — above all in dates, where den tredje maj ("the third of May") is the normal way to write the date. This page covers the forms, the spelling (including the curious colon abbreviation 1:a), and the one fact that catches everyone: ordinals behave grammatically like definite adjectives, so they sit inside the den/det/de machinery.

The first ten

Memorise these as a block. The first three are irregular and have no relation to their cardinals; from "fourth" on, a regular pattern takes over.

#	Cardinal	Ordinal	English
1	en / ett	första	first
2	två	andra	second
3	tre	tredje	third
4	fyra	fjärde	fourth
5	fem	femte	fifth
6	sex	sjätte	sixth
7	sju	sjunde	seventh
8	åtta	åttonde	eighth
9	nio	nionde	ninth
10	tio	tionde	tenth

Det här är första gången jag är i Sverige.

This is the first time I've been in Sweden. första — the irregular ordinal for 'first'.

Hon kom på andra plats i loppet, jag kom fyra.

She came in second place in the race; I came fourth. andra = 'second'.

Vi bor på tredje våningen, dörren till vänster.

We live on the third floor, the door on the left. tredje = 'third'.

The regular pattern: -de and -te

From fjärde ("fourth") onward, the ordinal is built from the cardinal stem plus an ending — -de in most cases, -te after a few stems. You do not need to derive each one from scratch (the spelling adjusts the stem: fyra → fjärde, sex → sjätte, åtta → åttonde), but the pattern lets you recognise and predict the larger ones:

-de is the default: fjärde (4th), sjunde (7th), nionde (9th), tionde (10th), trettonde (13th), tjugonde (20th), hundrade (100th).
-te appears after a handful of stems: femte (5th), sjätte (6th), elfte (11th), tolfte (12th).

#	Ordinal	#	Ordinal
11	elfte	20	tjugonde
12	tolfte	21	tjugoförsta
13	trettonde	30	trettionde
14	fjortonde	100	hundrade
15	femtonde	1000	tusende

Note that in compound ordinals only the last element becomes ordinal: tjugoförsta (21st = "twenty-first"), trettioandra (32nd), etthundrafemte (105th). The cardinals up front stay as cardinals.

Idag fyller hon tjugoett, så imorgon är det hennes tjugoförsta dag som myndig.

Today she turns twenty-one, so tomorrow is her twenty-first day as a legal adult. Only the last part — första — is ordinal.

Boken handlar om sjuttonhundratalet, alltså det artonde århundradet.

The book is about the 1700s — that is, the eighteenth century. artonde = 18th.

Writing ordinals with figures: the colon trick

When you write an ordinal as a numeral, Swedish does not use the English superscript st / nd / th. Instead it appends a colon plus the final letters of the spelled-out word:

1:a = första (the a is the last vowel of förstA)
2:a = andra
3:e = tredje
4:e = fjärde — and likewise 5:e, 6:e, 7:e… (everything from 4 on ends in -e)

So the rule is simple: 1:a and 2:a take :a, everything else takes :e. A plain period after the figure is also acceptable and common in dates (3 maj / 3. maj), but the colon form is the distinctively Swedish abbreviation.

Hon kom 2:a i klassen och han kom 4:e.

She came 2nd in the class and he came 4th. 2:a = andra, 4:e = fjärde.

1:a klass var fullbokad, så vi tog 2:a klass.

First class was fully booked, so we took second class. 1:a, 2:a written with the colon.

💡

The colon abbreviation is logical once you see it: the part after the colon is the spoken ending of the word. 1:a reads första, 3:e reads tredje. Only "first" and "second" end in -a (1:a, 2:a); from "fourth" up everything ends in -e (4:e, 5:e, 6:e…). Third is the oddity that ends in -e too: 3:e.

Ordinals take the definite form

Here is the grammatical point English speakers miss. A Swedish ordinal is, grammatically, an adjective in its definite form — the form ending in -a/-e. That means it normally sits inside the double-definiteness frame with a front article den/det/de, exactly like any definite adjective (see The Definite Form of Adjectives):

Den första bussen går klockan sex, den andra går halv sju.

The first bus leaves at six, the second at half past six. den + första + bussen — the ordinal sits where a definite adjective sits.

Det tredje försöket lyckades äntligen.

The third attempt finally succeeded. det tredje försöket — neuter double definiteness.

De första gästerna kom redan vid fem.

The first guests arrived already at five. de första gästerna — plural.

In some fixed expressions the front article drops, especially with gång ("time/occasion"): för första gången ("for the first time"), första maj ("the first of May / May Day"). These are set phrases worth learning whole.

För första gången på flera år kände hon sig verkligen ledig.

For the first time in several years she felt truly free. för första gången — a set phrase with no front article.

andra: the great ambiguity

The single biggest trap with ordinals is that andra means both "second" and "other/others". Swedish does not distinguish them — context does all the work.

den andra dagen = "the second day" (ordinal, in a sequence)
de andra = "the others / the other ones" (not "the seconds")
en annan bil uses annan for "another" in the singular, but the plural and the definite both surface as andra

Jag tar den här tröjan, ta du den andra.

I'll take this jumper, you take the other one. den andra = 'the other', NOT 'the second' here — context decides.

De andra har redan gått hem, vi är de sista kvar.

The others have already gone home; we're the last ones left. de andra = 'the others'.

På andra plats kom Norge, på tredje Finland.

In second place came Norway, in third Finland. Here andra clearly means 'second'.

💡

When you hear andra, ask whether you are in a ranked sequence (then it's "second") or talking about the rest of a group (then it's "other/others"). de andra länderna is "the other countries," not "the second countries." Swedish simply has one word for both meanings.

Common Mistakes

❌ Hon kom på två plats. (for 'she came second')

Incorrect — use the ordinal andra, not the cardinal två: på andra plats.

✅ Hon kom på andra plats.

She came in second place.

❌ den tredja gång (for 'the third time')

Incorrect — the ordinal needs its definite -e ending and usually a front article: den tredje gången.

✅ den tredje gången

the third time.

❌ Mötet är den 3 maj. Vi ses den fyra maj. (mixing forms)

Incorrect — a date is read as an ordinal: den fjärde maj, not den 'fyra' maj.

✅ Mötet är den tredje maj; vi ses den fjärde maj.

The meeting is on the third of May; see you on the fourth of May.

❌ Vi väntar på de tvåa gästerna. (inventing an abbreviation form)

Incorrect — there is no 'tvåa' ordinal; 'second' is andra, written 2:a as a figure.

✅ Vi väntar på de andra gästerna.

We're waiting for the other guests.

❌ Det här är 1st gången. (English-style superscript)

Incorrect — Swedish uses a colon abbreviation, not 'st/nd/th': 1:a.

✅ Det här är 1:a gången.

This is the first time.

Key Takeaways

The first three are irregular: första, andra, tredje. From fjärde ("fourth") on, a regular -de / -te pattern applies.
In compounds only the last element is ordinal: tjugoförsta (21st).
Written as figures, Swedish uses a colon plus the spoken ending: 1:a, 2:a (the -a words) and 3:e, 4:e, 5:e… (the -e words) — never English st/nd/th.
Ordinals are grammatically definite adjectives: they normally take a front article (den första bussen) and the -a/-e ending.
Swedish prefers ordinals in dates: den tredje maj, not the cardinal.
andra means both "second" and "other/others" — let context decide.

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