If you win a race, you are the first person to cross the finish line. The person in first place will get a gold medal; the person in second will get silver; and the person in third will get bronze.
These numbers are called ordinal numbers. They tell us the order of things.
Note the difference between ordinals (such as second) and “cardinal” numbers (such as one, two, three, etc.). For example:
- My two favourite colours are blue and red. Red is my second favourite, though, because I like blue more.
Two is a cardinal number and tells us how many of something. Here it is telling us that this person has two favourite colours.
Second is an ordinal number and tells us the order of something. Here it is telling us that this person puts their favourite colours in this order:
- Blue (first)
- Red (second)
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