ordinal – Being Taught that We may Teach

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Cardinal numbers show quantity; 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Ordinal numbers show order or rank; first, second, third, fourth, etc..

Hebrew:

Start your study of Hebrew numbers here.

Cardinals can occur in either gender (called “gender both” below) and must agree with whatever noun they are modifying. They can occur in construct with another noun. Translate as “one of whatever noun” or “two of something” etc.
Ordinals can occur in either gender and must agree with whatever noun they are modifying; They appear in the text as attributive adjectives (i.e. they follow the noun they modify and agree in gender, number, and definiteness)

There are no ordinals above ten; hence the cardinals must serve as ordinals, whenever the context demands. video

The number “one”

Form	Hebrew	Gloss
masculine singular absolute	אֶחָד	one
masculine singular construct	אַחַד	one of
feminine singular absolute	אַחַת	one
feminine singular construct	אַחַת	one of

The number “two”

Form	Hebrew	Gloss
masculine dual absolute	שְׁנַיִם	two
masculine dual construct	שְׁנֵי	two of
feminine dual absolute	שְׁתַּיִם	two
feminine dual construct	שְׁתֵּי	two of

Cardinal with a pronominal suffix.

שְׁנֵיהֶ֔ם

two of them or both of them

Ordinals:

word	Hebrew	Gloss
masculine	רִאֹשׁוֹן	first
masculine	שֵׁנִי	second
masculine	שְׁלִישִׁי	third
masculine	רְבִיעִי	fourth
masculine	חֲמִישִׁי	fifth
masculine	שִׁשִּׁי	sixth
masculine	שְׁבִיעִי	seventh
masculine	שְׁמִינִי	eighth
masculine	תְּשִׁיעִי	ninth
masculine	עֲשִׂירִי	tenth

These numbers have specialized uses when they take either a dual ending or a plural ending. When these numbers take a dual ending, they become simple multiples (“three-fold”, “four-fold”, “five-fold”, etc.); but when they take a plural ending, they become multiples of ten (“thirty”, “forty”, “fifty”, etc.).

Form	Hebrew	Gloss
masculine singular absolute	שָׁלֹשׁ	three
masculine singular construct	שְׁלֹשׁ	three of
feminine singular absolute	שְׁלֹשָׁה	three
feminine singular construct	שְׁלֹשֶׁת	three of
masculine singular absolute	אַרְבַּע	four
masculine singular construct	אַרְבַּע	four of
feminine singular absolute	אַרְבָּעָה	four
feminine singular construct	אַרְבַּעַת	four of
masculine singular absolute	חָמֵשׁ	five
masculine singular construct	חֲמֵשׁ	five of
feminine singular absolute	חֲמִשָּׁה	five
feminine singular construct	חֲמֵשֶׁת	five of
masculine singular absolute	שֵׁשׁ	six
masculine singular construct	שֵׁשׁ	six of
feminine singular absolute	שִׁשָּׁה	six
feminine singular construct	שֵׁשֶׁת	six of
masculine singular absolute	שֶׁבַע	seven
masculine singular construct	שֶׁבַע	seven of
feminine singular absolute	שִׁבְעָה	seven
feminine singular construct	שִׁבְעַת	seven of
masculine singular absolute	שְׁמֹנֶה	eight
masculine singular construct	שְׁמֹנֶה	eight of
feminine singular absolute	שְׁמֹנָה	eight
feminine singular construct	שִׁמֹנַת	eight of
masculine singular absolute	תֵּשַׁע	nine
masculine singular construct	תֵּשַׁע	nine of
feminine singular absolute	תִּשְׁעָה	nine
feminine singular construct	תִּשְׁעַת	nine of
masculine singular absolute	עֶשֶׂר	ten
masculine singular construct	עֶשֶׂר	ten of
feminine singular absolute	עֲשָׂרָה	ten
feminine singular construct	עֲשֶׂרֶת	ten of

Numbers 11-19

The numbers 11-19 are formed by writing the number 1-9 followed by the number 10. Thus, in Hebrew the number “eleven” is written as “one ten”; the number “seventeen” is written as “seven ten”, etc.

Form	Hebrew	Gloss
masculine	אַחַד עָשָׂר	eleven
feminine	אַחַת עֶשְׂרֵה	eleven
masculine	שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר	twelve
feminine	שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה	twelve
masculine	שְׁלֹשָׁה עָשָׂר	thirteen
feminine	שָׁלֹשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה	thirteen
masculine	אַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר	fourteen
feminine	אַרְבַּע עֶשְׂרֵה	fourteen
masculine	חֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר	fifteen
feminine	חָמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה	fifteen
masculine	שִׁשָּׁה עָשָׂר	sixteen
feminine	שֵׁשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה	sixteen
masculine	שִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר	seventeen
feminine	שְׁבַע עֶשְׂרֵה	seventeen
masculine	שְׁמֹנָה עָשָׂר	eighteen
feminine	שְׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה	eighteen
masculine	תִּשְׁעָה עָשָׂר	nineteen
feminine	תְּשַׁע עֶשְׂרֵה	nineteen

Multiples of ten

For the category “gender both”, see here.

Form	Hebrew	Gloss
gender both	עֶשְׂרִים	twenty
gender both	שְׁלֹשִׁים	thirty
gender both	אַרְבָּעִים	forty
gender both	חֲמִשִּׁים	fifty
gender both	שִׁשִּׁים	sixty
gender both	שִׁבְעִים	seventy
gender both	שְׁמֹנִים	eighty
gender both	תִּשְׁעִים	ninety

Multiples of ten plus units

(21, 32, 43, etc.) These numbers are written following the same rules as the numbers 11-19. Thus, the number “twenty-one” is written as “one twenty”; the number “thirty-two” is written as “two thirty”; the number “forty-three” is written as “three forty”, etc.

שְׁתַּ֤יִם וְשִׁשִּׁים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה

two and-sixty year

sixty-two years

וְאַחֲרֵ֤י הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ שִׁשִּׁ֣ים וּשְׁנַ֔יִם

And-after the-weeks sixty and-two

After the sixty-two weeks

Multiples of 100, 1000, 10000, etc.

The nouns “hundred” (100) and “thousand” (1000) function the same as any other common noun with singular, dual, and plural forms. Although the number for “hundred” uses feminine endings and the number for “thousand” uses masculine endings, both numbers should be classified as “gender both” because the same form can be both grammatically-masculine and grammatically-feminine.

Form	Hebrew	Gloss
gender both singular absolute	מֵאָה	hundred
gender both singular construct	מְאַת	hundred of
gender both dual absolute	מָאתַיִם	two hundred
gender both plural absolute	מֵאוֹת	hundreds
gender both plural construct	מֵאוֹת	hundreds of
gender both singular absolute	אֶלֶף	thousand
gender both singular construct	אֶלֶף	thousand of
gender both dual absolute	אַלְפַּיִם	two thousand
gender both plural absolute	אֲלָפַיִם	thousands
gender both plural construct	אַלְפֵי	thousands of