Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers answer the question који по реду? ('which one in order?'). They are essential in everyday speech for stating floors, ranks, centuries, and calendar dates.

1. Forms and Formation:
• Irregular roots: први (1st), други (2nd), трећи (3rd), четврти (4th).
• Regular pattern: cardinal stem + definite adjective ending, such as пети (5th), шести (6th), десети (10th), стоти (100th).
• Note the fleeting a dropped in stems: седам → седми (7th), осам → осми (8th).
• Large round numerals take the suffix -ити: хиљадити (1,000th), милионити (1,000,000th).

2. Agreement and Declension:
Because ordinals behave like definite adjectives, they decline through all seven cases based on gender, number, and case:
• Masculine: први спрат (Nom.), на првом спрату (Loc.)
• Feminine: друга кућа (Nom.), у другој кући (Loc.)
• Neuter: треће место (Nom.), освојити треће место (Acc.)

3. Dates and Calendar Expressions:
When identifying a calendar date (e.g., 'May 1st'), Serbian uses the ordinal: први мај. However, when stating when something happens ('on May 1st'), use the genitive of time without a preposition: првог маја.

4. Compound Ordinals:
In multi-digit numbers, leave all preceding elements as cardinals and change only the final component:
• двадесет пети (25th)
• Genitive: двадесет петог маја (never decline both words as *двадесетог петог).

5. Punctuation Rules:
• Standard Serbian uses a dot after Arabic numerals to mark ordinals: 1. = први, 21. = двадесет први. Do not attach letter endings to singular ordinals (avoid *1-ви or *21-ог). However, hyphenated endings are accepted for plural decades (e.g., 80-их година, 90-е).
• Omit the ordinal dot whenever the numeral is directly followed by another punctuation mark: before a comma in lists (1, 2. и 3.), in ranges with an en-dash (10–15. маја), or at the end of a sentence so you never write a double dot.
• Roman numerals never take a dot in standard Serbian: XXI век (21st century), Петар I (Peter I).