Ordinalni

Ordinalni refers to ordinal numerals, a grammatical category used to indicate position or order in a sequence rather than quantity. In linguistics, ordinalni are the forms of numerals that answer questions like which one in the series? and are often treated as a class of adjectives because they modify nouns and agree with them in gender, number, and case.

In many Slavic languages, ordinalni are declined like adjectives. They typically form from cardinal numerals by suffixation or distinct inflection patterns. They also show irregular forms in some languages. For example in Croatian and Serbian, masculine singular nominative forms include prvi (first), drugi (second), treći (third), četvrti (fourth), peti (fifth); feminine singular forms are prva, druga, treća, četvrta, peta; neuter forms are prvo, drugo, treće, četvrto, peto. These ordinals then decline across cases, e.g., prvog čovjeka (genitive singular masculine), prvoj ženi (dative singular feminine).

Ordinalni contrast with cardinal numerals, which express amount (one, two, three) rather than position. In many languages, ordinals function as adjectives and must agree with the noun they modify, shaping both agreement and sometimes the definite forms of the noun phrase. Some languages have simpler systems where ordinals are less inflected or exhibit fixed word order, while others maintain full gender-number-case agreement.

Usage spans everyday counting in orderings (first, second, third) to more formal contexts such as describing chapters, rankings, dates, and sequences. The exact morphology and agreement rules vary by language, but the overarching concept of ordinalni as order-indicating numerals is shared across many Indo-European languages. See also ordinal numerals and cardinal numerals for contrast.