Ordinal Numbers in French

How to write ordinal numbers in French

Like in English, when we write French ordinal numbers as numerals, they are followed by an ordinal indicator; an abbreviation written in superscript.

Example:

1^er étage

Take a look at the table below to learn the written forms of French ordinal numbers.

Writing rules for ordinal numbers in French

To form ordinal numbers in French, we simply add the ending -ième to the cardinal number.

Examples:

deux – deuxième

huit – huitième

When the cardinal number ends in an -e, this disappears before we add the ordinal ending.

Examples:

quatre – quatrième

seize – seizième

The number un/une is irregular.

un – premier

une – première

To make the number cinq into an ordinal number, we add a -u before adding the ordinal ending.

cinq – cinquième

To make the number neuf into an ordinal number, we transform the final -f into a -v before adding the ordinal ending.

neuf – neuvième

Royal titles

Like in English, French also uses Roman numerals for the titles of monarchs. However, unlike in English if we write the French titles in letters, we use cardinal numbers (Premier is an exception to this).

Examples:

Napoléon I – Napoléon Premier

Charles II – Charles Deux

Louis XIV – Louis Quatorze

Henri VIII – Henri Huit

The date

Unlike in English, we actually use cardinal numbers to express the date in French. The exception to this is the 1^st of the month, which is always expressed with the ordinal number premier.

Examples:

01/12/1995 – Le premier décembre 1995

02/08/1995 – Le deux août 1995

Learn more about saying the date in French.