Breakdown of Mein Bruder kommt am dreizehnten oder am vierzehnten März.
kommen
to come
mein
my
der Bruder
the brother
oder
or
Questions & Answers about Mein Bruder kommt am dreizehnten oder am vierzehnten März.
How do you form ordinal numbers between 11 and 19 in German?
You simply take the normal number and add -te to the end. For example, 13 is dreizehn, so the 13th is the dreizehnte. In this sentence, they have an extra -n because they follow am, making them dreizehnten and vierzehnten.
Why do dreizehnten and vierzehnten end in -ten instead of just -te?
The preposition am (on the) is a contraction of an dem, which triggers the dative case. When ordinal numbers follow am, they act like adjectives and must take the dative ending -n. Since the base ordinal is dreizehnte, adding the -n makes it dreizehnten.
Do I have to repeat am before vierzehnten, or could I just say am dreizehnten oder vierzehnten?
You can absolutely drop the second am! It is perfectly fine and very common to say am dreizehnten oder vierzehnten März. Repeating the am just adds a little bit of emphasis to both date options.
Why aren't dreizehnten and vierzehnten capitalized here?