Les Nombres Ordinaux — premier, deuxième, troisième | Vocabulary
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premier, deuxième, troisième… — putting things in order. This French premier deuxi me troisi me putting things order vocabulary list gives you 22 essential words — from premier / première (1er/1re) (first) to François Ier (Francis the First) — each with audio and its English translation. Use it to build the French words you need to talk about premier deuxi me troisi me putting things order, then test yourself with the games below.
Les Nombres Ordinaux
premier, deuxième, troisième… — putting things in order
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La règle 📏
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🎬 The 20-second version
5 quick questions on « Les Nombres Ordinaux » — guess before the reveal. Practise with the free games → Open this short as a page — transcript included →
📘 The rules that trip people up
- Form ordinals by adding -ième to the number: trois → troisième, vingt → vingtième. Drop a final -e first (quatre → quatrième).
- Premier / première is the ONLY ordinal that changes for gender: le premier jour, la première fois. All others are the same for m/f.
- Two spelling tweaks: cinq → cinquième (add u), neuf → neuvième (f→v).
- Dates use cardinals — EXCEPT the 1st: le premier mai, but le deux mai, le trois mai.
- Kings & centuries: cardinals too, except « premier »: Louis XIV (quatorze) but François Ier (premier). And « le premier étage » = the floor ABOVE the ground floor (rez-de-chaussée)!
🔊 Useful phrases
🔊 Example sentences
✍️ Practice
first (feminine) = ___ (only gendered ordinal)
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première
fifth = ___ (watch the spelling!) (cinq + u)
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cinquième
the 1st of May = le ___ mai (ordinal for the 1st only)
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premier
🎮 Practise this with games
🎯 More practice — vocabulary recall — both directions
How do you say « first »? (recall)
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premier / première
What does « troisième » mean? (recall)
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third
How do you say « fifth »? (recall)
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cinquième
What does « septième » mean? (recall)
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seventh
How do you say « ninth »? (recall)
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neuvième
What does « nombre + -ième » mean? (recall)
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quatre → quatrième
How do you say « add a u »? (recall)
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cinq → cinquième
What does « premier » mean? (recall)
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the only gendered one
Go further: Les Nombres — counting from 0 to a billion.
French premier deuxi me troisi me putting things order vocabulary — FAQ
How do you say common premier deuxi me troisi me putting things order words in French?
For example: first is « premier / première (1er/1re) », second is « deuxième (2e) », third is « troisième (3e) ». The full list above has 22 French premier deuxi me troisi me putting things order words, each with audio so you can hear the pronunciation.
What are the most useful French premier deuxi me troisi me putting things order words to learn first?
Start with the basics: premier / première (1er/1re) (first), deuxième (2e) (second), troisième (3e) (third), quatrième (4e) (fourth), cinquième (5e) (fifth), sixième (6e) (sixth). Master these core French words before moving on to the rest of the list.
How can I memorise French premier deuxi me troisi me putting things order vocabulary?
Learn the words in small themed groups, say each one out loud with the audio, and use it in a short sentence about your own life. Spaced repetition is what makes new vocabulary stick — see our guide to learning French vocabulary that sticks.
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