Ordinals: primero, segundo, tercero

Advanced Spanish numbers are what you need past counting: the ordinals (first, second, third), fractions, the round-number nouns, percentages, and dates. Each is built on the cardinals of Spanish numbers. The clock has its own page, telling the time.

Ordinals: primero to décimo

The ordinals are first, second, third and so on. Everyday Spanish uses the first ten; above that it usually switches to plain cardinals.

Ordinals are adjectives, so they agree with the noun:

Primer and tercer

Primero and tercero drop their final -o directly before a masculine singular noun:

Uno and bueno do the same: un día, un buen día (a good day).

Writing 1st and 2nd

In figures, an ordinal is the number, a full stop and a raised o or a. Spanish has no -st, -nd, -rd or -th:

Above tenth

Past tenth, Spanish normally uses the cardinal, after the noun:

• el siglo veinte - the twentieth century
• el piso doce - the twelfth floor
• Alfonso XIII - Alfonso the Thirteenth (read Alfonso trece)