Using いちばん、にばん (first, second, etc.) in a sentence

Question

こんにちは　皆さん、

I want to use first, second, etc. in a sentence, i.e. say "first car, first love, etc". In this case, would using　の　be correct as the linking particle, e.g.　いちばんの車、　いちばんの愛?

ありがとう　ございます！

Answer 1

For ordinals, the general construction is ~[目]{め} -- in this case, not meaning eye but rather *-th

as in [一番目]{いちばんめ} = 1st

as in [二番目]{にばんめ} = 2nd

etc.

but in the case of first love, [初恋]{はつこい} and the use of 初 with the pronunciation はつ is common for several of these types of firsts.

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More generally for the first instance of something you can use [初]{はじ}めての

e.g.
初めての愛 = first love
初めての車 = first car
初めての英語レッスン = first English lesson

if you use this pattern, then the second is [二]{ふた}つ[目]{め}. Third is [三]{みっ}つ[目]{め}