Ordinals four to ten, counting large

Ordinals from four to ten

In the previous lesson you met birinci, ikinci and üçüncü. The same suffix -(I)ncI builds every other ordinal, so let's complete the first ten. The suffix vowel follows four-way vowel harmony, and when the number itself already ends in a vowel, the suffix's first vowel drops:

number	ordinal
dört (four)
fourth	dördüncü
beş (five)
fifth	beşinci
altı (six)
sixth	altıncı
yedi (seven)
seventh	yedinci
sekiz (eight)
eighth	sekizinci
dokuz (nine)
ninth	dokuzuncu
on (ten)
tenth	onuncu

Watch dördüncü: the final t of dört softens to d before the suffix's vowel — the same consonant softening you already know from kitap → kitabı. Vowel-final altı and yedi take just -ncı / -nci, while consonant-final numbers take the full suffix with its harmony vowel: beş-inci, sekiz-inci, dokuz-uncu, on-uncu.

Asking "which in order?"

To ask about position in a sequence, put the same suffix on kaç: which (in order)

kaçıncı. It asks "the how-many-eth?" — English has no single word for it. Kaçıncı katta oturuyorsunuz? — Beşinci katta. Yarışmada kaçıncı oldun? — İkinci oldum. Note the pattern ... oldu for results and rankings: altıncı oldum = "I came sixth".

Counting and big numbers

A number as a quantity is a number (quantity)

sayı — compare numara, which is a label such as a phone or door number. The verb to countsaymak means to count: Çocuk ona kadar sayıyor. For large amounts Turkish uses millionmilyon and billionmilyar (a thousand million). Like every numeral, they are followed by a singular noun: iki milyon insan — never a plural after a number.