Long ago, kings and queens used ordinals in their names.
A king might be called Henry the Eighth, because seven kings named Henry came before him. The ordinal shows his place in line!
💡 Ordinals — Fun Facts
Fun “Did you know?” facts about Ordinals — tap through 10 at a time!
Race winners stand on a podium, with first highest in the middle.
First place stands on the tallest step in the center. Second and third stand a little lower on each side.
In Vietnamese, 'thứ nhất' means first and 'thứ hai' means second.
The little word 'thứ' shows you are talking about order. So 'thứ nhất' is first place and 'thứ hai' is second.
We can write ordinals in a short way, like 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
Instead of spelling out 'first', we can write 1st. It is a quick way to show the order using a number and two letters.
'First' comes before 'second', and 'second' before 'third'.
Ordinals line up just like counting numbers. First, second, third, fourth — they keep going in the same order.
The winner of a race comes in first place.
First place is the very best spot, right at the front. Second place is next, and third place comes after that.
Ordinal numbers tell the order, like first, second, and third.
They tell you who came where in a line or a race. First is the front, and the rest follow in order behind.