Proper pronunciation of ordinal numbers?

Question

Ok, so these few are easy:

1st (first)
2nd (second)
3rd (third)
4th (fourth)
......

And all other ordinal numbers ending in 1, 2 or 3 have their respective values, except for 11th, 12th and 13th, as far as I'm concerned.

But when you reach numbers like 601st, what is the correct way to pronounce it?

These were options I was going over:

six hundred and first
six hundred first
six hundred and oneth (final thought)

So, which one is it? None of them sound 100% right. Have I missed the correct one out completely? Please help.

Andrew Leach · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-13 07:06:37Z

up vote 4 down vote accepted

The pronunciation appears to differ by dialect.

In British English, it's definitely six hundred and first.

American English appears to drop the and in such numbers where BrE includes it, and is presumably six hundred first.

Either audience would understand the other.

It is definitely not *oneth, just as 1st is itself not *oneth.

answered Sep 13 '12 at 7:06

Andrew Leach
25.6k23987

	I think it's the same in AmE. – Noah Sep 13 '12 at 7:08
	@Noah I'm sure I've heard "six hundred first", but I may have been mistaken. The US will wake up in a couple of hours' time... – Andrew Leach Sep 13 '12 at 7:11
	Back in the early seventies, my grade school teacher drilled into us that, "there is only 1 and and it goes at the decimal point as in six hundred one and 5 tenths", thus 601 would be six hundred one. HOWEVER I still say six hundred and one as does most everyone I know. So six hundred and first here is common in AmE too. – Jim Sep 13 '12 at 7:48

Noah · Answer 2 · 2012-09-13 07:06:12Z

up vote 1 down vote

It's six hundred and first. For 602nd, you should say six hundred and second and so on and on.

answered Sep 13 '12 at 7:06

Noah
5,41521650

2 Answers