Ordinal Numbers and Gender Agreement
Ordinal numbers tell us the order of things, like "first," "second," or "third." In Spanish, they act as adjectives and usually come before the noun.
Because they are adjectives, they must match the gender of the noun they describe. Usually, they end in -o for masculine nouns and -a for feminine nouns.
However, "first" (primero) and "third" (tercero) have a special rule: when they come directly before a masculine singular noun, they drop their final -o to become primer and tercer.
When used on its own without a noun right after it, primero keeps its -o:
For feminine nouns, they follow the normal rule and take an -a (primera, tercera). For all other ordinal numbers, you just use the regular -o or -a endings.
Here are the first four ordinal numbers:
- 1st: primero
- 2nd: segundo
- 3rd: tercero
- 4th: cuarto
Fifth to Tenth
The rest of the ordinal numbers up to tenth follow the exact same rules for gender agreement (-o for masculine, -a for feminine):
- 5th: quinto
- 6th: sexto
- 7th: séptimo
- 8th: octavo
- 9th: noveno
- 10th: décimo
