vierte

Vierte is the feminine singular form of the German ordinal number vier, used as an adjective to indicate the fourth item in a sequence when the noun it modifies is feminine. In standard German, ordinals are declined to reflect case, gender, and number, so phrases such as die vierte Folge, der vierten Stunde, or in der vierten Woche show the appropriate endings.

Usage and examples

- With feminine nouns: die vierte Etage (the fourth floor), die vierte Folge (the fourth episode), die vierte Seite (the fourth page).

- In time expressions: in der vierten Stunde (in the fourth hour), innerhalb der vierten Woche (within the fourth week).

- In mathematical or scientific terms: die vierte Wurzel aus 16 ist 2 (the fourth root of 16 is 2).

- In figurative phrases: die vierte Gewalt (the fourth estate), referring to the press as a political or societal force; here vierte functions as an ordinary ordinal adjective describing Gewalt (feminine noun).

Capitalization and form

- In ordinary prose, vierte is written lowercase: die vierte Folge, die vierte Wurzel. It is capitalized only at the beginning of a sentence.

- When used in titles or as part of a proper noun, capitalization rules follow those for proper nouns in German, so there may be capitalized instances in specific contexts.

Relation to other forms

- The corresponding masculine and neuter forms are der vierte (masculine nominative) and das vierte (neuter nominative), with similar declension patterns (die vierte, der vierten, etc.) depending on case and article.

- The form v or the full ordinal vierte shares the same root as other ordinals: erster, zweiter, dritter, and so on, forming a system that marks order across genders.

See also

- Ordinal numbers in German

- German adjective declension

- Die vierte Gewalt (usage as a phrase referring to the press)