Just Like Adjectives
Ordinal numbers (first, second, third) behave exactly like adjectives in Russian. They must match the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. In this lesson, we will use them to talk about sports rankings, stages of a competition, and sequences in time.
Sequences in the Prepositional Case
When talking about a specific stage—like playing in the first season (в первом сезоне) or competing at the tenth championship (на десятом чемпионате)—you will use the Prepositional case.
For masculine and neuter ordinal numbers, use the -ом or -ем ending.
For feminine nouns, use -ой or -ей. Pay special attention to the word for "third" (третий), which takes soft adjective endings. In the feminine Prepositional case, it becomes третьей.
Taking First Place
When you want to talk about taking a specific place or rank, you will use the Accusative case with verbs like занимать (imperfective) or занять (perfective).
Remember that in the Accusative case, neuter ordinal numbers like первое место (first place) look exactly like the Nominative case. For feminine nouns like позиция (position), the ordinal number ending changes to -ую (or -юю).
"After" and "Thanks To"
You will also see ordinal numbers change to fit other common prepositions as you talk about competition results:
- после (after) requires the Genitive case. For masculine and neuter ordinals, use the -ого or -его ending.
- благодаря (thanks to) requires the Dative case. For masculine and neuter ordinals, use the -ому or -ему ending.