how to spell: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th...

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1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 21st, 22nd, 33rd
Why do we spell 1st, 2nd, 3rd like this?
Where do the letters come from?

Hi there this is Joanne from howtospell.co.uk and in this lesson we're looking at the spelling of ordinal numbers and a few rules

1st = first She won first prize
2nd = second I live on the second floor
3rd = third Take the third turning on the left.
4th = fourth It's his fourth birthday.
5th = fifth This is the fifth time I've taken my driving test.

Why do we spell 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th , 5th like this?
Where do the letters come from?

Look at these and notice the last two letters of the words
1st = first
2nd = second
3rd = third
4th = fourth
5th =fifth

Can you see the last two letters of the words make up the ordinal number.
first - last two letters are 'st' put after 1 = 1st
second - last two letters are 'nd' put after 2 = 2nd
third - last two letters are 'rd' put after 3 = 3rd
4th - 4 fourteen, forty (drop the u), fourth (don't drop th u)
5th - fifth (spelling change) five, fifteen, fifty, fifth ( helps pronunciation)
9th - nine, nineteen but ninth (drop the 'e')
12th - twelve, twelfth
14th - fourteenth
15th - fifteen + th = fifteenth)
sixteenth
106th = one hundred and sixth
2018th two thousand and eighteenth

Let's look at numbers from 21 upwards

We need a hyphen when we write numbers from 21 upwards notice there's no space between the letters and hyphen
twenty-one
twenty-two
thirty-three
sixty-seven
ninety-one
one hundred and twenty-nine
one thousand two hundred and thirty-one pounds

This also applies to ordinal numbers from the 21st so again we need a hyphen when writing these in words
twenty-first = 21st It's her 21st on Sunday.
twenty-third = 23rd
thirty-second = 32nd
sixty-fourth = 64th
two hundred and twenty-first = 221st
no space between hyphen and words

Let's look at some spelling rules

20th twentieth twenty (change the y to ie) + th = twentieth My birthday is on the 20th
30th thirtieth) It's her thirtieth birthday
40th fortieth
50th fiftieth
sixtieth