Parts of speech - Woordsoorten

Numeral - Telwoord

There are two different kinds of numerals: cardinals (hoofdtelwoorden) and ordinals (rangtelwoorden). There are also indefinte numerals including an interesting example of a 'new' numeral.

CARDINAL - HOOFDTELWOORD

Here are some examples of cardinals:

Ik heb één zus en één broer.

I have one sister and one brother.

Mijn zus is tweeëntwintig jaar oud.

My sister is twenty-two years old.

Er zitten precies honderd kinderen op deze school.

There are exactly one hundred (100) children in this school.

The number één, ‘one', often receives accentuation marks to distinguish it from the article een (‘a' in English).

Note that in words like tweeëntwintig, a diaresis (trema) is placed on the - e of the word en. This is to make clear in spelling that the word is made up of more than one word ( twee and en and twintig), and acts as an aid to pronunciation.

ORDINAL - RANGTELWOORD

Ordinals are derived from cardinals, and are normally formed by adding -de or -ste to the cardinal. The words for ‘first' and ‘third' do not follow this pattern: eerste (from één) en derde (from drie) . Here are some examples of ordinals:

Mijn zus viert haar tweeëntwintigste verjaardag.

My sister celebrates her twenty-second birthday.

De derde dinsdag in september is een belangrijke dag voor het Nederlandse parlement.

The third Tuesday in September is an important day for the Dutch Parliament.

 

INDEFINITE NUMERAL - ONBEPAALD TELWOORD

There is a small number of indefinite numerals.

Veel and weinig are indefinite cardinals. To an extent they behave like >adjectives, for example in that they form a >comparative and superlative. However, unlike adjectives they tend not to decline:

Veel dieren waren gespecialiseerde planteneters, maar sommige ontwikkelden zich tot roofdieren.

Many animals were specialised plant eaters, but some developed into predators.

An example of an indefinite ordinal is zoveelste ('umpteenth').

We hebben onze afspraak om Lord of The Rings te zien voor de zoveelste keer verzet.

We have moved our arrangement to see Lord of the Rings for the umpteenth time.

Even though numerals are considered to be a closed group, the numeral ' tig' is sometimes used to indicate a large undisclosed or unknown quantiy:

Ik ken wel tig mensen die in Griekenland op vakantie zijn geweest.

I know tons of people who have been to Greece on holiday.

Tig can also be made into an ordinal:

We hebben onze afspraak om Lord of The Rings te zien voor de tigste keer verzet.

We have moved our arrangement to see Lord of the Rings for the umpteenth time.

Back to parts of speech.
Back to home.

Click here to read about numerals in the Beginners Dutch Grammar