Ordinals and Room/Bus Numbers: 第一、302路

Chinese grammar · HSK 2 · 序数表示法 · By Carson 木林森

Ordinals use 第 + number: 第一 (first), 第二 (second), 第三 (third).

第一 dì yī first 路 lù road 路公交车 lù gōng jiāo chē

Structure: 第 + Number (+ Measure Word optional)
- 第一名 = first place
- 第三天 = the third day

Bus/route numbers drop 第 and use the number directly + 路:
- 302路 (bus route 302)
- 五路公共汽车 (bus line 5)

Floor numbers: 楼 follows the number directly: 三楼 (3rd floor), not 第三楼 in everyday speech.

❌ 他是第一学生。(missing measure word context)
✅ 他是第一名学生。(first-place student)

Worked examples

Chinese	Pinyin	English	What it shows
她是班上第一名。	Tā shì bān shàng dì yī míng.	She is first in the class.	Ordinal 第一 + measure word 名 for rank
我们坐302路公共汽车去学校。	Wǒ men zuò sān líng èr lù gōng gòng qì chē qù xué xiào.	We take bus route 302 to school.	Route number: numeral + 路, no 第
我家在这栋楼的五楼，你坐电梯上来。	Wǒ jiā zài zhè dòng lóu de wǔ lóu, nǐ zuò diàn tī shàng lái.	My home is on the 5th floor of this building; take the elevator up.	Floor number: numeral + 楼, no 第 in colloquial speech

Produce this pattern without stopping to think about it. GraphChinese drills Ordinals and Room/Bus Numbers across 12 exercises and schedules the review that keeps it.

What you need first

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What this opens up

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Prefixes & Suffixes

Ordinals and Room/Bus Numbers is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.

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