What are cardinal and ordinal numbers?
Cardinal numbers
We use cardinal numbers to talk about quantity.
eg I have two flights tomorrow.
- one – 1
- two – 2
- three – 3
- four – 4
- five – 5
- six – 6
- seven – 7
- eight – 8
- nine – 9
- ten – 10
- eleven – 11
- twelve – 12
- thirteen – 13
- fourteen – 14
- fifteen – 15
- sixteen – 16
- seventeen – 17
- eighteen – 18
- nineteen – 19
- twenty – 20
- twenty-one – 21
- twenty-two – 22
- twenty-three – 23
- twenty-four – 24
- twenty-five – 25
- twenty-six – 26
- twenty-seven – 27
- twenty-eight – 28
- twenty-nine – 29
- thirty – 30
- thirty-one – 31…
- etc…
Ordinal numbers
We use ordinal numbers to talk about the position of something in a series. We also use them to talk about dates. We can use ordinal numbers as adjectives, nouns and pronouns.
eg. This is my first flight this month.
- first – 1st
- second – 2nd
- third – 3rd
- fourth – 4th
- fifth – 5th
- sixth – 6th
- seventh – 7th
- eighth – 8th
- ninth – 9th
- tenth – 10th
- eleventh – 11th
- twelfth – 12th
- thirteenth – 13th
- fourteenth – 14th
- fifteenth – 15th
- sixteenth – 16th
- seventeenth – 17th
- eighteenth – 18th
- nineteenth – 19th
- twentieth – 20th
- twenty-first – 21st
- twenty-second – 22nd
- twenty-third – 23rd
- twenty-fourth – 24th
- twenty-fifth – 25th
- twenty-sixth – 26th
- twenty-seventh – 27th
- twenty-eighth – 28th
- twenty-ninth – 29th
- thirtieth – 30th
- thirty-first – 31st…
- etc…
Tip: The two letters we use after ordinal numbers (instead of words) are the last two letters in the word.
eg second – last two letters are ‘nd’ so we use – 2nd
eg. third – last two letter are ‘rd’ so we use – 3rd
You should be able to use both cardinal and ordinal numbers correctly if you want to achieve ICAO level 4.
Tip: Be careful that you correctly pronounce the ‘th’ sound at the end of many ordinals.
Follow us on Twitter here or Facebook here for more great content!