Why are the first few ordinals irregular?

Första (1st), andra (2nd) and tredje (3rd) do not follow the regular pattern and must be memorised. From fjärde (4th) onward the ordinals become more predictable, ending in -de or -te attached to the cardinal stem.

What is the difference between the -a and -e endings?

The -a ending (första, andra) is the everyday common form. The -e ending (förste, andre) is a masculine or definite form used in set phrases such as Karl den förste (Charles the First). Use the toggle to switch.

How is the numeric short form written?

Swedish abbreviates ordinals by adding a colon and the final letters, most often :a, so 1st is 1:a and 2nd is 2:a. The tool shows this short form alongside the spelled-out word.

How are larger ordinals built?

Tens and units compound, so 21st is tjugoförsta and 47th is fyrtiosjunde. Round tens take -nde (tjugonde), round hundreds take -de (etthundrade), and round thousands take -tusende.

Does this run offline?

Yes. The ordinal vocabulary and compounding rules are bundled into the page, so conversion happens in your browser with no network request.

Swedish Ordinal Words

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The Swedish Ordinal Words tool converts numbers into their Swedish ranking forms, from the irregular första, andra, tredje through the regular endings that take over from fjärde onward. It also handles the two adjective forms Swedish ordinals can take.

How it works

Irregular base. The ordinals 1–3 are learned forms: första, andra, tredje. The tool stores 1–19 directly so the irregular shapes (sjätte for 6th, åttonde for 8th) come out correctly.
Regular endings. From 4th up, most ordinals add -de or -te to the cardinal stem, giving fjärde (4th), femte (5th), tionde (10th), and tjugonde (20th).
Compounding. Larger numbers join the tens stem and the ordinal unit into one word, so 21st is tjugoförsta. Round hundreds and thousands take their own ordinal endings: etthundrade and tusende.

The -a versus -e ending

Most ordinals end in -a in everyday use (första, andra). A masculine or definite form ends in -e (förste, andre) and appears in fixed expressions like Gustav den förste. The toggle rewrites a trailing -a to -e so you can produce the form your sentence needs.

Example

Entering 21 returns tjugoförsta with the short form 21:a. Switching on the -e toggle for 1 produces förste, the form used in royal and rank titles.