Ordinal numbers are not as common as cardinal numbers. But you need to use them whenever you express things that occur in an order or series. For example, in a hotel you may discover that your room is on the eighth floor. To properly use ordinals in German, you have to consider that ordinal numbers are adjectives. That is, you have to choose the form that matches the gender, grammatical case, and number of the noun(s) it modifies.<\/p>\n
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Word stem<\/strong><\/p>\n Before you can make use of ordinals it is necessary to know how to form their word stems. This is quite easy and similar to English. All you have to do is to take the cardinal number, e.g.\u00a0zwei<\/em>\u00a0(two),\u00a0vier<\/em>\u00a0(four),\u00a0f\u00fcnf<\/em>\u00a0(five),\u00a0sechs<\/em>\u00a0(six), etc. and add the suffix \u2013te to it. This results in:\u00a0zweite<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(second),\u00a0vierte<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(fourth),\u00a0f\u00fcnfte<\/strong><\/em>(fifth),\u00a0sechste<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(sixth). The only exceptions to that rule are the numbers 1and 3:\u00a0eins<\/em>\u00a0(one) becomes\u00a0erste<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(first) and\u00a0drei<\/em>\u00a0(three) becomes\u00a0dritte<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(third). Now that the basis has been established you can continue to add the appropriate case and gender endings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unfortunately, adding the proper endings to adjectives is not that straight in German. That is, it depends on whether you use a noun with a definite article, an indefinite article, or a pronoun. The good news is that indefinite articles and pronouns require the same adjectival endings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Below you can find, for now, a table that contains the adjectival endings you have to use when you use a noun with definite articles (the).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Singular<\/strong><\/p>\n Masculine (man)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Feminine (woman)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Neuter (child)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n <\/p>\n As you can see, when you use a noun in the singular with a definite article you have to add the ending \u2013n to: masculine-genitive, masculine-dative, masculine-accusative, feminine-genitive, feminine-dative, neuter-genitive, and neuter-accusative.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Plural<\/strong><\/p>\n Masculine (men)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Feminine (women)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Neuter (children)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n <\/p>\n As you can see, when you use a noun in the plural with a definite article you have to add the ending \u2013n to all forms of the adjective.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n * English \u201cseventh\u201d is either\u00a0sieb-te<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0sieb-en-te<\/em>\u00a0in German. Both forms are correct. You can choose whether you would like to leave out -en- when you turn the cardinal\u00a0sieben<\/em>\u00a0(seven) into ordinal\u00a0siebte<\/em>\/siebente<\/em>\u00a0(seventh).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ordinal numbers are not as common as cardinal numbers. But you need to use them whenever you express things that occur in an order or series. For example, in a hotel you may discover that your room is on the eighth floor. To properly use ordinals in German, you have to consider that ordinal numbers…<\/p>\n\n\n
\n <\/td>\n \n \n \n \n Nominative<\/strong><\/td>\n der erste Mann<\/td>\n die zweite Frau<\/td>\n das dritte Kind<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Genitive<\/strong><\/td>\n des vierten\u00a0<\/strong>Mannes<\/td>\n der f\u00fcnften<\/strong>\u00a0Frau<\/td>\n des sechsten<\/strong>\u00a0Kindes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Dative<\/strong><\/td>\n dem siebten<\/strong>\u00a0Mann<\/td>\n der achten\u00a0<\/strong>Frau<\/td>\n dem neunten<\/strong>\u00a0Kind<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Accusative<\/strong><\/td>\n den zehnten<\/strong>\u00a0Mann<\/td>\n die elfte Frau<\/td>\n das zw\u00f6lfte Kind<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n \n\n
\n <\/td>\n \n \n \n \n Nominative<\/strong><\/td>\n die ersten<\/strong>\u00a0M\u00e4nner<\/td>\n die zweiten<\/strong>\u00a0Frauen<\/td>\n die dritten<\/strong>\u00a0Kinder<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Genitive<\/strong><\/td>\n der vierten<\/strong>\u00a0M\u00e4nner<\/td>\n der f\u00fcnften<\/strong>\u00a0Frauen<\/td>\n der sechsten<\/strong>\u00a0Kinder<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Dative<\/strong><\/td>\n den siebten<\/strong>* M\u00e4nnern<\/td>\n den achten\u00a0<\/strong>Frauen<\/td>\n den neunten<\/strong>\u00a0Kindern<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Accusative<\/strong><\/td>\n die zehnten<\/strong>\u00a0M\u00e4nner<\/td>\n die elften<\/strong>\u00a0Frauen<\/td>\n die zw\u00f6lften<\/strong>\u00a0Kinder<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n