When does a Dutch ordinal end in -de versus -ste?

Ordinals from 1 to 19 take -de, as in vierde, vijfde, and negentiende. From 20 upward they take -ste, as in twintigste and honderdste. The single exception below 20 is achtste, which takes -ste.

Which Dutch ordinals are irregular?

The clearly irregular ones are eerste for first and derde for third. Tweede for second is regular, formed as twee plus -de. Achtste for eighth is the lone low number that takes the -ste ending instead of -de.

How are big ordinals like millionth formed?

The -ste ending attaches to the last word of the cardinal, so the millionth is miljoenste and the eleven-thousandth is elfduizendste. Compound numbers such as 21st become eenentwintigste, with the inversion preserved.

What is the short written form?

Dutch writes ordinals as a digit followed by -e, so first is 1e, second 2e, and nineteenth 19e. The tool accepts this short form as input and also shows it alongside the spelled-out word.

Is my input sent anywhere?

No. The conversion runs locally in your browser with a built-in algorithm. Nothing is uploaded, so it is safe for any figures.

Dutch Ordinal Words — Gera Tools

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This tool writes whole numbers as Dutch ordinals — the words for first, second, third, and so on. Dutch ordinals follow a clear two-suffix rule with a handful of irregular forms, and the tool encodes them so the endings are always correct.

How it works

The tool first builds the cardinal word, then attaches an ordinal ending to the last word, choosing the suffix by the size of the number:

-de up to 19: vier becomes vierde, negentien becomes negentiende. The one exception is acht, which takes -ste to give achtste.
-ste from 20: twintig becomes twintigste, honderd becomes honderdste, miljoen becomes miljoenste.
Irregulars: 1 is eerste and 3 is derde. 2 is the regular tweede.

1   -> eerste
3   -> derde
8   -> achtste
19  -> negentiende
20  -> twintigste
21  -> eenentwintigste

For compound numbers the inversion from the cardinal is kept, so 21st is eenentwintigste, and the suffix lands on the final word only.

Tips and notes

You can type either a plain number or the Dutch short form ending in -e, such as 19e; both produce negentiende. The short written form is what you will see on dates and in lists, for example de 1e mei or het 3e hoofdstuk. For plain cardinal numbers like twintig or honderd, use the Dutch number-to-words tool.