Grammar: ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers

Spelling of Ordinal Numbers
Just add -th to the cardinal number:

four - fourth
eleven - eleventh

Exceptions:

one - first five - fifth eight - eighth
two - second nine - ninth
three - third twelve - twelfth

In compound ordinal numbers, note that only the last figure is written as an ordinal number:

421st = four hundred and twenty-first
5,111th = five thousand, one hundred and eleventh

 

Figures

When expressed as figures, the last two letters of the written word are added to the ordinal number:

first = 1st third = 3rd twenty-sixth = 26th
second = 2nd fourth = 4th hundred and first = 101st

Titles

In names for kings and queens ordinal numbers are written in Roman numerals. In spoken English, the definite article is used before the ordinal number:

Charles II

Charles the second

henry VIII

Henry VIII

Henry the Eighth

1st first 20th twentieth
2nd second 21st twenty-first
3rd third 22nd twenty-second
4th fourth 23rd twenty-third
5th fifth 24th twenty-fourth
6th sixth 25th twenty-fifth
7th seventh 26th twenty-sixth
8th eighth 27th twenty-seventh
9th ninth 28th twenty-eighth
10th tenth 29th twenty-ninth
11th eleventh 30th thirtieth
12th twelfth 40th fortieth
13th thirteenth 50th fiftieth
14th fourteenth 60th sixtieth
15th fifteenth 70th seventieth
16th sixteenth 80th eightieth
17th seventeeth 90th ninetieth
18th eighteenth 100th one hundredth
19th nineteenth
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