Das erste Eichhörnchen

Ich bin also das erste außerirdische Eichhörnchen?

So I am the first alien squirrel?

Just like in English, ordinal numbers are used to state the order for which a thing appears in.

To form the ordinal number, you add an -te ending to numbers between one and 19 and the ending ste to all other numbers which don't end in one to 19.

Cardinal	Ordinal
eins	das erste Haus
zwei	das zweite Haus
drei	das dritte Haus
vier	das vierte Haus
fünf	das fünfte Haus
sechs	das sechste Haus
sieben	das siebte Haus
zwanzig	das zwanzigste Haus
einhundertundzwei	das einhundertundzweite Haus

However there are some irregular numbers as you've seen on the table above, das erste, das dritte, and das siebte, are all irregular ordinal numbers, which change up the cardinal number.

Das ist bereits der 38543. Planet, den ich besucht habe.

This already is the 38543rd planet that I have visited.

If the ordinal number is written as a digit, you simply follow the digit by a period, similar to the -th ending in English.

Beim ersten Haus:

Ordinal numbers follow the same rules as adjectives, as such the ending may change accordingly, for example the ending changes to -ten when the number is used for a dative noun: dem ersten Eichhörnchen

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