Ordinal numbers, dates and the time

After this page you will be able to use ordinal numbers (first, second, third …) with the right ending, say and understand dates such as два́дцять четве́ртого се́рпня (on the 24th of August), say a year, and tell the time in full, including half past, a quarter past and five to.

Time showed how to ask the time and say at two, at seven in the evening. Numbers covered the counting numbers. This page adds the ordinal numbers and what they are used for. The names of the months and days are on the time vocabulary page.

The ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers (порядко́ві числі́вники) give a position in a row: first, second, tenth. In Ukrainian they are adjectives. They have the same endings as нови́й: -ий, -а, -е, plural -і [src: pravopys-2026, §106; ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9].

For eleventh to twentieth, thirtieth and fiftieth to eightieth, the ordinal is the counting number without its final ь, plus the adjective ending; the others are in the table. Watch the stress: in двадця́тий and тридця́тий it moves to the я [src: pravopys-2026, §106; ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9].

Agreement and case

An ordinal agrees with its noun in gender, number and case, like any adjective. Тре́тій is the one exception to the pattern: it has the soft endings of си́ній [src: pravopys-2026, §106]. Adjective cases has the full tables.

Long ordinals: only the last word changes

In a long ordinal, the earlier parts are ordinary counting numbers. Only the last word is an ordinal, and only that word changes its ending [src: pravopys-2026, §106; ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9]:

• два́дцять пе́рший (21st), сто п’я́тий (105th);
• вісімдеся́т во́сьмий, genitive вісімдеся́т во́сьмого.

Ordinals written with figures

Ordinals are usually written in words. When an ordinal is written with a figure, its ending follows a hyphen: 5-й по́верх (5th floor), на 36-му кіломе́трі (at the 36th kilometre). Dates and page numbers are an exception: they are written with the figure alone, without an ending: 1 сі́чня 2000 ро́ку [src: pravopys-2026, §106].

Dates

What is the date today?

To ask the date, say Яке́ сього́дні число́?, literally “Which number is today?” [src: goroh-dictionary]. The answer is a neuter ordinal (it goes with число́, which is neuter), followed by the month in the genitive [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9]:

The months in the genitive

Most month names end in -ень. In the genitive, -ень becomes -ня. Two months are different: лю́тий is an adjective in form and becomes лю́того, and листопа́д becomes листопа́да [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9]. The names of the months are written with a small letter.

On a date: the genitive

To say on a date, put the ordinal in the genitive as well, with no preposition: тре́тього лю́того (on the 3rd of February) [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9].

Years

A year is an ordinal with the word рік (year), which is masculine. Only the last word is an ordinal: дві ти́сячі два́дцять шо́стий рік (2026, literally “two thousand twenty-sixth year”) [src: pravopys-2026, §106].

• In a full date, the year is in the genitive, like the day: ти́сяча дев’ятсо́т дев’яно́сто пе́ршого ро́ку (of 1991) [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9].
• For “in” a year, the orthography’s own examples use у with the locative: у ти́сяча сімсо́т вісімдеся́т дев’я́тому (ро́ці) (in 1789), у дві ти́сячі вісімна́дцятому (ро́ці) (in 2018). The word ро́ці can be left out [src: pravopys-2026, §106].

For this year, last year and next year, usage guides recommend the genitive: цього́ ро́ку (this year), мину́лого ро́ку or торі́к (last year), насту́пного ро́ку (next year), rather than у цьо́му ро́ці [src: goroh-usage].

Telling the time in full

The simple way: the hour, then the minutes

The simplest way to tell the time is the hour as a feminine ordinal (it agrees with годи́на, hour), then the minutes as a counting number. To say at a time, use о (об before a vowel) with the locative, ending in -ій. Time explains this in detail.

The minutes are an ordinary number: о тре́тій со́рок п’ять (at 3:45). Usage guides recommend this, not в три годи́ни со́рок п’ять хвили́н [src: goroh-usage; ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9]. The 24-hour clock works the same way: о вісімна́дцятій (at 18:00).

Counting towards the next hour

Ukrainian also tells the time the traditional way. Here the ordinal names the hour that is running, the one you are moving towards. Between 2:00 and 3:00 you are in the third hour, тре́тя годи́на. So ten past two is “ten minutes on the third”: де́сять хвили́н на тре́тю [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9].

• Minutes past: на with the accusative of the hour that is running: чверть на дру́гу (1:15) [src: goroh-usage]. You may also hear де́сять хвили́н по дру́гій (ten past two) [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9].
• Half past: пів на with the accusative: пів на шо́сту is 5:30, the middle of the sixth hour. The dictionary defines this пів as the moment in the middle of the hour [src: goroh-dictionary]. The usage guides recommend пів на п’я́ту rather than пів п’я́тої, and пів на тре́тю; пів до тре́тьої is dated [src: goroh-usage; goroh-dictionary].
• Minutes to: за with the minutes, and the coming hour in the nominative: за чверть во́сьма (7:45), за п’ять хвили́н тре́тя (2:55) [src: goroh-usage].

At what time?

To say at one of these times, put о in front: о пів на шо́сту (at 5:30) [src: goroh-dictionary].

Common mistakes and limits