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Hello and welcome to 6 Minute

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Vocabulary with me, Catherine.

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And me, Neil.

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And today we're talking about ordinal numbers.

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Yes, so numbers like first,

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second and third. So

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let's start by listening to Lawrence. He's

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talking about his 18th birthday party.

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While you listen, try to answer this question.

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What date was his party? Here's

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Lawrence.

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For

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my 18th birthday last year, I

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invited about 60 friends

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and relatives. It was on the 25th of May

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and it was the first time that

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I ever had a big party. It

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was in a restaurant on the third floor

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of a hotel.

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The food was really delicious and

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I won second prize in the dancing

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competition.

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So we asked you, what date was Lawrence's

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birthday party? And the answer is the

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25th of May. That's right. Now,

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the 25th is an ordinal

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number like the first and the

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second. Ordinal numbers tell

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us the position of something in a group.

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The dates in a month, for example. Or which birthday

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it is. Lawrence said

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it was his 18th birthday. Yes,

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he did. Lucky him! And ordinal

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numbers are different to cardinal

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numbers. We use cardinal numbers like

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one, two,

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three for counting and

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to answer the question, how many? And

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to make a cardinal number into

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an ordinal number add

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the letters TH to

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the end.

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of the cardinal number. 18, 18th, 60, 60th.

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And that works for all the cardinal numbers

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except for first, second

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and third. They're irregular, but

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for all the others it's at t-h.

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So that's fourth, fifth,

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sixth, seventh, eighth,

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ninth, tenth. So

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that's good, but in writing

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we do have a couple of irregular

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spellings such as fifths,

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f-i-f-t-h,

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eighth, e-i-g-h-t-h,

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ninth, n-i-n-t-h,

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twelfth, t-w-e-l-s-t-h.

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And for numbers ending in y, like

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sixty, drop the y

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and add i-e and t-h

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to make sixtieth.

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S-i-x-t-i-e-t-h.

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Now let's look more closely

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at dates. Listen for the date

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in this clip. It was

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on the twenty-fifth of May and

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it was the first time that I ever

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had a big party. The

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twenty-fifth of May.

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When we say the day before the month

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we always use the words the

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and of. The twenty-fifth

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of May.

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But when we say the month before

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the day we don't use the

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word of. It's just

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May the twenty-fifth.

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We often use the word the with ordinal

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numbers but we can also use possessives.

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In this next clip, Lawrence uses the possessive

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adjective my before eighteenths.

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about

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sixty friends and relatives.

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Let's have another clip.

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It was in a restaurant on the third floor

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of a hotel. The food was really

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delicious, and I won second

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prize in the dancing competition.

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So now we have two more ways of using

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ordinal numbers – space and

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quality.

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Yes, we do. And the third floor

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tells us about the position of the

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floors in space. It's the same

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as when we give directions. For example,

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take the second left after the traffic

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light. And second prize tells

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us about the quality. And a point to make

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here is that ordinal numbers can

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be used as adjectives and adverbs

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without the, like in the phrase,

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he won second prize. Second

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is an adjective.

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And now it's

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quiz time.

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Number one, which of these

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is correct?

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The parties on A, 30th of July,

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B, the 30th of July,

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C, the 30th of

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July. And

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it's C, the 30th of July. Great.

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Now, number two, which word

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in this list is wrong?

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First,

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second, third,

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forward, fifth.

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And the answer's forward. It

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should be

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four. Yes, it should. Number

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three, which of these is correct?

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A, my 21st birthday, B, my the 21st birthday,

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C, the my 21st birthday.

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And the answer's A, my 21st

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birthday.

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Well done. got them right. But

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before we go, here's a vocabulary tip.

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Try saying your own important and memorable

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dates in English, for example birthdays,

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anniversaries and festivals. If the dates

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are important, you're more likely to remember

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the English.

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There's more about this at bbclearningenglish.com.

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Join us again soon for more 6 Minute

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Vocabulary. Bye!