In this episode of Slovak Sound Check, Veronika and Lubna take you into the world of ordinal numbers — the words that help us talk about order, sequence, and position. From “prvý” (first) to more complex forms like “dvadsiaty tretí” (twenty-third), they break down how ordinals work in Slovak, why they change depending on gender, and how they’re used in everyday speech.
Vocabulary
jeden – prvý = one – first
dva – druhý = two – second
tri – tretí = three – third
štyri – štvrtý = four – fourth
päť – piaty = five – fifth
šesť – šiesty = six – sixth
sedem – siedmy = seven – seventh
osem – ôsmy = eight – eighth
deväť – deviaty = nine – ninth
desať – desiaty = ten – tenth
jedenásť – jedenásty = eleven – eleventh
dvanásť – dvanásty = twelve – twelfth
trinásť – trinásty = thirteen – thirteenth
štrnásť – štrnásty = fourteen – fourteenth
pätnásť – pätnásty = fifteen – fifteenth
šestnásť – šestnásty = sixteen – sixteenth
sedemnásť – sedemnásty = seventeen – seventeenth
osemnásť – osemnásty = eighteen – eighteenth
devätnásť – devätnásty = nineteen – nineteenth
dvadsať – dvadsiaty = twenty – twentieth
tridsať – tridsiaty = thirty – thirtieth
štyridsať – štyridsiaty = forty – fortieth
päťdesiat – päťdesiaty = fifty – fiftieth
šesťdesiat – šesťdesiaty = sixty – sixtieth
sedemdesiat – sedemdesiaty = seventy – seventieth
osemdesiat – osemdesiaty = eighty – eightieth
deväťdesiat – deväťdesiaty = ninety – ninetieth
sto – stý = one hundred – one hundredth
Bonuses
Koľkáty si v rade? = Which place are you in line?
Stojím v rade. = I’m standing in line.
prvý v rade. = first in line
dvadsiaty tretí = twenty-third
štyridsiaty deviaty = forty-ninth
Note 1: Ordinal numbers in Slovak are used to express order or position — for example when talking about episodes, rankings, levels, or later even dates. They answer the question “Koľkát(y/a/e)?”, meaning which one or in what place. A typical example is: “Koľkáty si v rade?” (Which place are you in line?).
Note 2: Just like adjectives — and very much like possessive pronouns — Slovak ordinal numbers must agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. This means that each ordinal number has several forms. For example, first and tenth are “prvý”/“desiaty” in the masculine form, “prvá”/“desiata” in the feminine, and “prvé”/“desiate” in the neutral. The same pattern applies to all other ordinal numbers, so the form always adapts to the noun it modifies.
Note 3: The first four ordinal numbers have long vowels in their endings: “prvý” (1st), “druhý” (2nd), “tretí” (3rd), and “štvrtý” (4th). Beginning with “piaty” (5th), the endings become short. Many ordinals also feature Slovak diphthongs — typically “ia, ie, or ô” — as in “šiesty” (6th), “siedmy” (7th), “ôsmy” (8th), “deviaty” (9th), and “desiaty” (10th). From eleven onward, the pattern becomes more regular: teen and tens ordinals more or less follow the shape of their cardinal numbers — for example “jedenásty” (11th), “dvanásty” (12th), “dvadsiaty” (20th). Compound forms combine the tens and the units — but unlike in English, in Slovak both parts take the ordinal form: “dvadsiaty tretí” (23rd), “štyridsiaty deviaty” (49th), and so on.
If you would like recap basic cardinal numbers in Slovak, take a look at episode 15!
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