Dutch ordinal numbers: eerste, tweede, derde

Ordinal numbers put things in order: de eerste (the first), de tweede (the second), de derde (the third). In Dutch they are built from the cardinal numbers by adding one of two endings.

Add -de to numbers up to 19 and -ste from 20 upward — with three irregulars to learn by heart: eerste (1st), derde (3rd) and achtste (8th).

1. For 2 through 19 (with the exceptions below), take the cardinal and add -de: vier → vierde (4th), zeven → zevende (7th), tien → tiende (10th), negentien → negentiende (19th).
2. From 20 upward, add -ste: twintig → twintigste (20th), dertig → dertigste (30th), honderd → honderdste (100th), duizend → duizendste (1000th).
3. Three forms break the pattern and have to be memorised. Eerste (1st) is a word of its own, not een plus an ending. Achtste (8th) already carries -ste even though it sits well below 20 — a stem ending in -t cannot pick up a second dental letter. And derde (3rd) rearranges the letters of drie rather than stacking an ending onto it.

A compound number takes the ending of its last word. When that last word is a ten, hundred or thousand, the ending is -ste: eenentwintigste (21st), tweeëntwintigste (22nd, with the trema from the cardinal), honderdste (100th). But when the compound ends in a unit (1 through 19), that unit keeps its own ordinal: honderdeerste (101st), honderdderde (103rd), honderdzevende (107th).

• In dates, spoken aloud: de derde mei (the third of May), de eerste januari (the first of January). More on this in days, months and dates.
• For rankings and positions: Zij eindigde als tweede. (She finished second.) de eerste keer (the first time).
• For floors and order in a series: Ik woon op de derde verdieping. (I live on the third floor.)
• For monarchs, written as a Roman numeral but read as an ordinal: Willem III is read Willem de derde (William the Third).

Do not build eerste and derde from the plain cardinal. Eenste and drieede are wrong; the forms are eerste and derde. The form for 8th trips people up as well. Writing achtde looks logical, but Dutch will not place a t and a d side by side, so the word settles on achtste instead. In dates the day is written as a plain figure but spoken as an ordinal: you write 3 mei but say de derde mei (the third of May).